


A Mess in Three Parts

by aroseandapen



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Any applicable warnings before each chapter, M/M, Multi, Some Fluff, Some angst, a lot of quality bois
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 15:05:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 25,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14718389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroseandapen/pseuds/aroseandapen
Summary: Doing a 30 day challenge for any combination of the saioumota boys, includes some oumota week fun, cross-posted from my Tumblr. Now with occasional Irumatsu!Most Recent: Chapter 29 (Saimota + doing something sweet) and Chapter 30 (Oumota + Doing something hot)





	1. Oumota - Holding Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {That ficlet in which the two boys can’t stop digging at each other for two seconds in order to enjoy their date}**
> 
> _Subtitled: Does the author know how to title their stories?_
> 
> Kaito takes Kokichi out for a date. Things are a little crowded, and Kokichi is a bit of a brat.

“Why the hell are there so many people out here today?” Kaito grumbled, as another person knocked into him before he’d taken more than a few steps.

“I don’t know, it’s really strange how there’d be a bunch of people out during a festival in a very populated city!”

“Will you shut up?” Kaito glanced back at Kokichi, who slipped his way between a gap of people before it could cut them off from each other. “I knew it was going to be crowded, but I didn’t think it would be  _this_  much.”

Kokichi’s eyes filled with the beginnings of his trademark crocodile tears. “I can’t believe you’re telling me to shut up, after asking me out on this date where people keep running into me, and you won’t even hold my haaand,” he whined, complete with a sniffle.

Ah hell no.

“Geez, if you wanted to hold my hand… here.” Kaito reached out, threading their fingers together. Kokichi’s hand was warm in his; he took pleasure in it and the way Kokichi’s sniffling immediately ceased when he grabbed it. Satisfied, he turned around to set his sights on a new goal–a relatively empty-looking booth with a game that he and Kokichi could play together. Perfect.

“Alright, try not to let go and get lost, I see something that looks fun, just wait.”

He and Kokichi were going to have fun even if it killed them both.

Yet when he went to move forward, and thread his way through the crowd, a tug on his hand held him back. Kaito looked over his shoulder at Kokichi, who hadn’t moved an inch and stared down at their linked hands with an unreadable expression.

He furrowed his brows, confused. “Come on dude, we’re going to get in the way standing here.”

Kokichi glanced up at him, and Kaito had no clue what went on inside that head of his. Then a smile played across Kokichi’s lips, and he felt as if he were being teased somehow. “Kaito is holding my hand,” he said in a sing-song voice.

Seriously? That was what had him stopped in the middle of this busy crowd? Kaito rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, mouth tilted as he looked away. He guessed that he didn’t normally hold his hand, especially not in public.

“Well, I mean it’s crowded here and you’re my–.”

Kokichi’s smile grew wide, a playful spark in his wide purple eyes. “That’s  _reeeeally_ gay, Katio!” he exclaimed, squeezing his hand.

Kaito’s eyes widened, meeting Kokichi’s for just a moment before he scoffed and turned away. He started forward again, this time practically dragging a giggling Kokichi through the crowd. “Dammit, shut up! Why do you gotta say it like that? Of course it’s gay, you’re my fucking  _boyfriend_  you asshole.”

“Nee-heehee, I didn’t say it was a bad thing~”

Leave it to Kokichi to ruin the mood.  _Geez_. Luckily for him, Kaito loved this little shit.


	2. Oumota - Cuddling somewhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {It is subjected to heat and pressure, causing profound physical or chemical change}**
> 
> _Subtitled: Dying in a virtual world is like metamorphism with people instead of rocks_
> 
> In which Kokichi has a nightmare, and Kaito comforts him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warnings for panic attacks, discussions of past character death**

A crushing weight sat on his chest, suffocating him. His eyes flew open to the dark room, taking short shuddering gasps as the pressure only got heavier with each quick breath. His limbs, leaden and numb, wouldn’t respond to his brain’s desperate signals to move, to clutch and claw at his chest and throat to clear his airway.

Something moved at his side; he barely noticed, gaze fixed on the ceiling above. In the darkness it seemed to move and warp.

“…kichi?”

Had it gotten closer? God, in the back of his brain he knew that was stupid but–.

“Hey. Kokichi.”

He screwed his eyes shut. Couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe, he was going to die, and the room was spinning around him, he–.

“ _Kokichi_!”

Something touched his forehead. With a panicked jolt, his eyes popped open to look up, wide-eyed and hazy, at the face above him. A worried gaze held his, the hand that’d laid across his forehead, pushing wet strands of hair back from his face. His mind, still frantic and addled with racing thoughts, latched onto the name of the person above him, like a desperate chant to ground himself, to hold onto anything other than the static in his head, and the tightness in his chest.

“Ahh.”

Kaito, Kaito, Kaito… he blinked rapidly. His fingers twitched, wanting to clutch at the boy hovering over him, but his hands refused to move.

“Hey, it’s ok, just breathe, ok? Deep breaths, slowly.” Kaito’s voice reached past the ringing in his ears. Kokichi tried his best to follow the instructions, but he sobbed instead.

“Can I hold you?”

Yes, yes,  _please_.

Kokichi nodded weakly, and immediately he felt arms wrap around him, pulling him in close against Kaito’s broad chest. He buried his face into its warmth, shaking as he clung to the front of Kaito’s nightshirt.

Unbidden, he thought about how he used to tease Kaito for wearing a shirt to bed. Wasn’t it more ‘manly’ to sleep without one? Now he was glad for something to hold onto.

“Come on, breathe, I got you. You’re ok.”

Funny how such a strong and rough guy like Kaito could now hold him so delicately, a gentle but firm pressure of a hand at his back as the other stroked his hair. He’d laugh if he weren’t too busy listening to the words rumbling deep in Kaito’s chest.

Bit by bit, the static faded, and the darkness at the corners of his mind receded. His breathing got easier, and the pressure in his chest lifted. Tears stung at the corners of his eyes as he sighed in relief. He was here, he was safe, everything was alright.

Wrapped around him like a security blanket, Kaito was speaking again. “There we go, I got you man. Was it a nightmare?”

Kokichi didn’t pull his face back to look at him, muttering into the warmth of Kaito’s chest, “I don’t dream–I’ve never dreamed since I was a little kid, you know. I’m not about to start now, it’s inconvenient for a supreme leader of evil like me to have nightmares.”

Kokichi’s grip tightened on his shirt. The lie had been poor at best, the tremor in his voice giving him away immediately.

“Right, my bad,” Kaito sighed out, not once letting up the stroking at the back of his head.

Now Kokichi did move his face back, blinking up at Kaito. He searched his face for any hint of annoyance, that Kaito might just be putting up with him, and thankfully found nothing.

“Did I wake you up?” he asked. “I mean, you already sleep too much anyway, but I’m just curious.”

“Nah man, I already couldn’t sleep. I’ve been awake most of this time already.”

Kokichi looked for the tells of a lie. There was no way that Kaito was so conveniently awake when Kokichi woke up from a panic-inducing nightmare. Yet no matter how hard he looked for the bullshit in his expression, he found nothing but honesty in those tired features.

“Oh my god, you idiot, why didn’t you get up and do something until you were ready to sleep? You didn’t have to lay here with me all night. Unless you just like watching me while I’m asleep, how creepy!”

He felt better when the conversation steered away from the panic attack he’d just had. Pile on the lies and jabs, cover up what happened, and move past it.

“Hey, I thought I slept too much? Now you’re telling me I should sleep more?”

Kokichi shrugged. At last he released his death grip on Kaito’s shirt, slipping his arms around his waist instead. “What can I say? I’m a fickle soul. You know I’m a Gemini right? That’s like the kind of thing Gemini’s do, we’re two-sided,” he said, flashing a grin.

“You don’t believe in astrology, you told me that it’s bullshit and people who believe in it are stupid.”

“ _Wow_ , this is very gemini-like of me, then! Kaito should learn to keep up. Not believing in astrology is soooo last month. And I don’t hear you denying the creepy watching-me-while-I-sleep thing!”

Kaito rolled his eyes. “Sure, fine, whatever, and I mean… it’s  _not_  creepy. You just look so peaceful and… and… you know…  _cute_  when you’re asleep. I don’t  _watch_  you, I just… like looking at you sometimes. It sets my heart at ease.”

That wiped away anything snarky Kokichi might’ve said in return. He blinked at the unexpected sweetness in response to his allegations that Kaito was acting like a creep. He almost felt  _bad_ for making them. Feeling his cheeks start to heat up, he buried his face right back in Kaito’s chest.

“You’re such an  _idiot_!”

The only response that Kokichi got was a deep, rich laugh.

After that, they fell into a comfortable silence. If Kokichi wasn’t still shaken up over the terrifying nightmare he’d have, it might’ve been enough for him to fall asleep in Kaito’s arms. But he was, and so he didn’t, focusing instead on the slow expansion of Kaito’s chest as he inhaled, and then exhaled again. He found his own breath subconsciously trying to match Kaito’s.

It was nice. For all the shit he gave Kaito sometimes, he really appreciated moments like this, where Kaito would just hold him and they would just exist together in silence.

Gathering his courage, he spoke up at last. “I had a nightmare about the killing game. And the… you know…”

Kaito’s arms tightened around him. Part of Kokichi felt bad; he knew that Kaito still felt guilty for how he’d acted while they were inside the killing game, and for his own part in the subject of Kokichi’s nightmares now.

“Yeah, I get ya…” And the unspoken ‘ _You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to’._

Kokichi nodded. “It feels dumb… none of it turned out to be even real and it’s been  _forever_ , but I’m still having these stupid nightmares! I hate it.”

“It felt real to us,” Kaito reminded him. “As far as your body knows, you really did die back there–so no, it’s not dumb. You’re just fucked up over it. The rest of us are, too. I know I am.”

“Really?”

A beat passed. “Yeah,” Kaito finally said. “I get nightmares too. About everything that happened. Yeah…”

That was news to Kokichi, and in a messed up sort of way it relieved him to hear that someone else had difficulty moving past the killing game, even if it’d turned out to be just one big virtual reality game show. He didn’t press for details. Kokichi didn’t particularly want to discuss his own traumatic thoughts, and he doubted that Kaito did either, if he wasn’t volunteering the information on his own.

When he didn’t say anything in response, however, Kaito spoke again. “So, you know, you can talk to me about any of it. I’ll listen, no matter what time it is, I swear it so… I mean you don’t gotta but… I’ll listen if you ever do want to talk about it.”

Time passed. Kokichi ruminated on Kaito’s words in a thoughtful silence. When he replied, his voice was quiet, even in the silent dark bedroom.

“Thanks, Kaito… and you can talk to me too, if you ever want…”

He could hear the warm smile in Kaito’s tone. “Thanks, Kokichi.”


	3. Saioumota - Gaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {The murder was justified officer, I swear, we were playing minigolf together}**
> 
> Shuichi, Kaito, and Kokichi playing a minigolf game together. Kokichi can't help but push buttons on more than his controller.

Shuichi let out a sigh of relief as he managed to sink par, setting his controller down in his lap and relaxing back against the couch. As the number of holes dwindled, and the end of their course came nearer, he found himself tense with how close the game was. Not to mention with the amount of times they’d messed with each other with the powerups.

Now…

“Kokichi you little  _shit_!!!” Kaito’s voice right at his ear rattled his thoughts, making Shuichi jump in his spot.

Ouch. There went his hearing for the rest of the day.

At his other side, Kokichi began to giggle at his reaction. Right in front of the hole his ball rested, the electricity powerup in play. If Kaito attempted to hit it in the hole, then it’d bounce him away. “What is it, Kaito? All I’m doing is playing the game~”

“You could’ve made it in the hole! Why the fuck are you adding on strokes for both of us?!”

“Whaaaaat? I didn’t do it on  _purpose_ , I just accidentally missed the hole! Why is Kaito being so meeeean to me?”

“‘Accidentally’ my ass…” Kaito devolved into unintelligible grumbling, taking the hit to Kokichi’s obvious amusement.

Shuichi smiled sympathetically as both he and Kokichi finished the hole as well, two strokes behind. “Well, at least you aren’t too far behind, right?”

“Yeah.” Kaito nodded, but his frown said that he still wasn’t pleased. “Plenty of time to catch up and win.”

Famous last words.

In the final remaining holes, Kokichi managed to get in Kaito’s way at every turn. Knocking his ball out of bounds, setting up powerups in the way, to the point where in his exasperation Kaito yelled out, “Why don’t you go after  _Shuichi_  at all?!”

To which Kokichi remarked that all he was doing was playing like the two of them and not everything was about  _him, Kaito, geez_.

Until, finally fed up with Kokichi’s antics, Kaito practically threw his controller away and made a lunge grabbing for Kokichi, landing right across Shuichi’s lap. He let out a soft ‘ _oof_!’, lifting his own controller out of the way.

“C’mere you little–!”

Kokichi dodged the threatening hands, hands on Shuichi’s shoulders as he wormed his way partly behind him. “Oh no, Kaito’s angry! Protect me, Shuichi!”

“Get out of the way, Shuichi, he deserves it!” Kaito said, as if he didn’t have his entire body weight thrown across Shuichi.

“…um, guys?”

Kokichi made just enough room between Shuichi’s back and the couch to wiggle his way through the space. Slipping out over Kaito’s kicking legs, he jumped off the couch and took off from the room, his laughter echoing down the hall. Kaito followed soon after, scrambling up off of Shuichi’s lap (much to his dismay at how much he got battered by the wild action) and giving chase.

“Get  _back here_! You’re gonna get it, Kokichi!”

Which left Shuichi alone on the couch and still wondering at the turn of events. He shouldn’t be surprised. Every time they tried to play some kind of game, it always ended with Kokichi baiting Kaito into a reaction and Kaito not only swallowing the bait, but grabbing it and shoving the bait right down his own throat. So even when either Shuichi or Kaito won the game, it always seemed that Kokichi won as well, in his own mischievous way, with Kaito often chasing him down and threatening his life.

…Shuichi should probably go make sure his boyfriends didn’t murder each other, actually…


	4. Saioumota - On a date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Simple and Clean}**
> 
> Plans for a date, some anxiety about going out, and changing things up last minute.

Shuichi sat on the edge of the couch, jiggling his leg as he played with the buttons on his shirt. Somehow, even with all his meandering and slowness at pulling his clothes on and combing his hair, he’d still managed to be done before either of his boyfriends. Kaito he understood. The amount of gel that doubtless went into styling his hair couldn’t be a quick application. Maybe. He’d never actually  _used_  gel before, knowing that nothing would convince that  _one bit of his hair_  to lay  _flat_.

Speaking of… He smoothed his hand over the top of his head. The ahoge bent beneath its weight, only to spring back up the moment it passed by. He sighed.

He didn’t know if he could do this…

Tapping his fingers against his thigh, Shuichi looked around the room restlessly for something to occupy his chattering mind. Nothing could distract him from his thoughts, though, especially not his faint reflection in the blank television screen. He looked awkward, and his ahoge out of place. People would stare, he knew it, and they’d think about what a weirdo he was when he strolled into some restaurant way too fancy for someone like him.

Or was he overdressed? Now staring at the reflection, he plucked at his collar and the buttons. Maybe he should unbutton one more? Would that look tacky or casual? Shuichi had no clue, maybe he should ask Kaito, but then he would probably say that he was just being silly.

Anxiety swirled in his chest, making him vaguely sick. He didn’t want to go out. He’d make a fool of himself, no doubt. Ghh…

“Aw man, Kaito’s not done yet?” Kokichi’s light-hearted whine brought Shuichi out of his thoughts. He glanced over to the other boy, with his hands tucked behind his head and a pout on his face. “I even took longer hoping he would be  _dooone_  by now, too.”

Shuichi gave him a once-over, at the clothes Kokichi had chosen. His shirt had a fake pocket on it, but he didn’t seem dressed any more or less than Shuichi was. He wished that Kaito had given him more details about how they should dress. Maybe this was still wrong. It helped that both he and Kokichi were similarly dressed, but even so…

“Hey Shuichi, are you checking me out?” Once again, Kokochi distracted him, a smile curling his lips. “Maybe you should save it for after the date, or we’re never going to get anywhere at all.”

“H-huh?” Shuichi’s face grew hot and he looked away quickly. That hadn’t been what he’d been thinking at all, but now the image had implanted itself in his mind. Great, perfect, just what he needed with the anxious whirl of thoughts already tumbling through it.

“ _Although_ … we could probably mess around and  _still_  be done before Kaito finishes getting ready.”

“ _Kokichi_!”

“Not really though! I’m just messing with you. I spent alllll this time getting all ready and cute for you two, I don’t want to mess it up.” Kokichi grinned, and came to sit beside Shuichi on the couch, leaning into his side. “Annyyyyyway, you got ready really fast, Shuichi. As expected! You’re already good looking all the time, so you’re ready for a date way faster than us!”

“Geez…” Messing with him and then acting so sweet in the very next breath, Kokichi gave Shuichi whiplash sometimes. At least it helped distract him somewhat, but he still nervously drummed his fingers against his leg.

Some of the mirth faded from Kokichi’s expression. He tilted his head, gazing up at him thoughtfully. “Hey, Shuichi, are you alright?”

Shuichi nodded, taking a moment to steady his thoughts before he said, “Yeah, I’m just…” He shrugged. How could he explain that he was having second thoughts about going out? After Kokichi and Kaito were already spending so much time and effort on getting ready. “…it’s nothing, I’m just anxious to be going, you know?”

He gave Kokichi a smile that he knew was unconvincing. Kokichi blinked.

“You know we don’t have to go out if you don’t want to. I’m sure Kaito would understand,” he said.

Ah. Straight to the point. Shuichi averted his eyes.

“No no,” Shuichi said, not looking at him. “I do want to go! I’m just restless right now so… don’t worry about it, alright?”

He looked back at Kokichi, still leaning against his side, and gave what he hoped to be a reassuring smile. Kokichi’s face didn’t shift an inch, regarding him in silence. Dread settled into his stomach. There was no way Shuichi convinced him, and he could see it in that blank expression of his.

Neither of them said anything, until the silence was broken by Kaito emerging, tugging at his collar. “Alright, finally ready–you guys ready to go?”

Before Shuichi could respond, Kokichi flung himself across his lap, throwing an arm across his face. “I changed my mind. I don’t want to go out toniiiight!”

The sudden shift in behavior had Shuichi dumbfounded. He said nothing, staring down at the boy in his lap.

“What? Seriously?” Kaito said, furrowing his brows. Shuichi chanced a shy glance up, afraid to see anger there after all his anxiety over ruining the night. He looked more confused than upset, Kaito’s gaze Kokichi, who seemed genuinely distressed at the thought of going out when Shuichi knew the truth was far from it. “Why, what’s up?”

“I decided I’d rather stay in tonight! Going out sounds so  _boring_  right now.” Kokichi pulled his hand away from his face to pout up at Kaito.

Shuichi watched as the emotions flickered across Kaito’s expression–confusion, concern–before it finally settling on resignation. He rubbed the back of his head, before coming to join them on the couch. Kokichi scrambled to move out of the way as Kaito plopped himself right at Shuichi’s other side, nearly sitting on Kokichi’s head while he was still draped over Shuichi’s lap.

“Well I sort of wished you told me  _before_  I got ready but… if either of you don’t feel up to going, then there’s not really any point in going out, is there? It wouldn’t be much of a date if I forced ya,” Kaito said, and threw an arm around Shuichi’s shoulders. “Are you cool with it, Shuichi?”

He tried not to let the relief show in his face. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Let’s watch a movie and eat ice cream!” Kokichi chimed out, settling against Shuichi’s side again.

“We have to actually eat something for  _dinner_  first,” Kaito said.

“Yeah! Like ice cream!”

As the two bickered over what they’d be eating or not eating for their new house-date, Shuichi felt a grateful smile tugging at his lips, sandwiched in the warmth between both of his boyfriends. In retrospect, worrying about anything with these two by his side seemed silly.

“ _Hey_  we should take our clothes off!”

Shuichi and Kaito both sputtered at the innocent way Kokichi piped up with those words.

“So we can change into something more  _comfortable_ , of course. Geez, get your filthy minds out of the gutter.”

Of course that was what he meant.


	5. Saimota - Kissing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {A quiet moment}**
> 
> Kaito has some unexpectedly affectionate thoughts about Shuichi while he's busy working.

Kaito could sit in a silent room, him and Shuichi on opposite ends absorbed in separate tasks, and still feel content with how they spent their time together. He found his eyes drawn to Shuichi, hunched over an open book, eyes scanning the page before he’d scribble something into the notebook in his lap. Every now and then he’d focus only on reading, elbow propped up on the table and tapping his pen against his mouth.

His gaze flickered to Shuichi’s lips, parted just so. Every now and then he’d mouth some words, and his brows would furrow as he struggled with some bit of information, but soon that moment would pass and the tension smoothed out of his expression and left a calm night’s sky, his eyes like two moons watching over a sea.

Kaito averted his eyes as the thought hit him. Even if they’d been dating for a while, it still overwhelmed him to have such thoughts about another guy. How attractive Shuichi could look to him, how much he wanted to kiss him during peaceful moments like this.

Geez, he was hopeless, wasn’t he?

He swallowed, gaze drawn back to Shuichi’s mouth. From experience he knew it to be warm and soft against his, sometimes hot enough to melt his heart in his chest. It always began with hesitance, Shuichi unsure of himself, before he gained an intensity that almost always overwhelmed Kaito.

He didn’t know why Shuichi ever lacked confidence in himself. He was sharp and striking–smart and talented and good looking, about as perfect as a guy could get.

Fuck it. Why was he even hesitating? It wasn’t fitting of Kaito Momota to sit and stare at his boyfriend like some lovesick fool. He stood from his seat, and made his way over to the table.

Shuichi didn’t notice him until his shadow fell over his book. He glanced up, blinking in confusion as he met Kaito’s eyes with a question in his. Before he could voice it, however, Kaito braced his hands on the table and leaned over. A little noise of surprise escaped his throat as their lips met. Kaito watched thorugh half-lidded eyes as Shuichi’s lids fluttered closed, and he hummed in satisfaction before closing his as well, enjoying the slide of lips against his.

When he ended the kiss, he pulled only a couple inches away, opening his eyes to see the slow open of Shuichi’s as well, lips still slightly parted as if expecting another kiss. Their eyes met.

“Sorry for interrupting your shit, I just saw you and I sort of had to kiss you, y’know,” Kaito said, rubbing the back of his head.

“No, don’t be.” Shuichi’s gaze flickered down to his notes, up to his eyes, at his mouth, then to his eyes again. The faintest pink dusted his cheeks as he set his notebook aside. He reached up to cup the sides of Kaito’s face, urging him back in again. “I could use a break anyway.”


	6. Oumasai (Background Saioumota) - Wearing each other's clothes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {It’s cheating a little bit when you’re 5′1 and extremely cute}**
> 
> Kokichi convinces Shuichi that a good way to surprise Kaito is by wearing one of his shirts... and nothing else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for sexual themes. No actual sex but the intention is there.

Shuichi shifted his weight on the bed, his legs tucked under him and hands pulling at the hem of the shirt he wore. The only thing he wore, actually, to his constant embarrassment now. He didn’t know how he let Kokichi talk him into this, how he’d  _insisted_  how much Kaito would  _love_ it.

Now however, he only felt like a fool.

Kokichi seemed unperturbed by his own state of dress. He lay on his stomach, propped up on his elbows and typing away on his phone, presumably texting Kaito. He had his feet kicked up into the air, idly waving him as he focused on his phone. The shirt–one of Kaito’s, just as the one Shuichi wore was–reached midway down his thighs. Looking over at him made Shuichi want to reach over and run his hands up over the soft skin of Kokichi’s leg, until his fingers disappeared under the end of the shirt and still moved upward, peeling away the fabric with each exploratory inch of his fingertips, up and up, around his waist…

The thought made his cheeks warm, and he dropped his gaze to his lap in an attempt to reel in his own thoughts.

In contrast, Kaito’s shirt was only awkward on Shuichi. Barely longer than his own shirts, if he stretched out then it would cover almost nothing. He couldn’t see the appeal. He shouldn’t have let Kokichi convince him of this.

“Geez,  _finally_  he’s on his way. You’d think he’d hurry up after I told him that we have a surprise for him but nooooo, he’s still gotta keep us waiting. How inconsiderate, right Shuichi?” Kokichi said, turning a pout up at him. He tossed his phone onto the bed, dropping his legs onto the bed.

Shuichi swallowed, distracted by a strange mix of both his anxious thoughts and the sight of Kokichi on the bed. “Ah… right, yeah…”

His response didn’t seem satisfactory to Kokichi, whose pout turned into a little frown as he regarded Shuichi. “Are you alright, Shuichi?” he asked.

“I’m fine, it’s just… I don’t know if Kaito will really be into this. I feel sort of embarrassed,” Shuichi said, shifting again nervously.

“Of course he will! He’s got two really cute and  _really_  willing boys waiting on the bed for him,” Kokichi said, raising up onto all fours to crawl over to Shuichi. He brought his face in close, until their noses brushed. “You just need to stop thinking about it too much and relaaaax, Shuichi.”

As he told Shuichi to relax, Kokichi pushed him by the shoulders. It caught him off guard, and Shuichi tipped over with a soft cry of alarm, landing on his back against the mattress with a light bounce. Kokichi beamed at him, caging him in with one arm on each side of Shuichi. He nuzzled against the side of his face, lips brushing over the shell of his ear.

“You’re so cute, Shuichi, Kaito won’t be able to keep his hands off you,” Kokichi murmured, his hot breath ghosting over Shuichi’s skin. He shivered at the sensation. “Especially with you all shy and blushing like that.”

Indeed, Shuichi’s face felt hot. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words refused to form in his mind. It was hard to doubt Kokichi’s words, especially when he’d swung a leg over to straddle him, mouthing at the sensitive skin of Shuichi’s neck, and the only sound he managed to make was a low moan. His hands came to rest on Kokichi’s hips, and he felt Kokichi smile against his skin at the action.

Kokichi pulled back, making himself at home on top of Shuichi as he smirked down at the blushing boy beneath him. The shirt had ridden up from their new position, now barely keeping him decent. His hands traveled down from Kokichi’s waist, trailing over his bare thighs.

“Man, Kaito better hurry it up, or I’m not gonna be able to resist having you all to myself,” Kokichi said, the faint dusting of a blush across his cheekbones. “He’s gonna miss out on  _all_  the fun.”

And Shuichi swallowed, wishing now that Kokichi  _wouldn’t_  hold himself back.


	7. Saimota - Death of a loved one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {And the earth keeps spinning at 1000 miles an hour while the world stands still}**
> 
> Shuichi gets a phone call from his mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Warning for minor unnamed character death/death of a parent, and guilt)

“Argh! The answer is  _so obvious_  how can they  _not_  know it?!!”

Shuichi glanced up from his book at Kaito’s indignant exclamation, scanning the offending question on the tv. A trivia game, with adults in their mid-thirties and forties played on the screen. To him, like with Kaito, the answer was obvious, but he imagined that when he was as old as the contestant and that far out of school, then he might not know the answer either.

He hummed in response, returning his gaze to his book. If Kokichi were there, he’d probably snip that Kaito was just as dumb and oblivious as they were, and Kaito would snap something right back at him. His lips quirked into a smile at the thought.

Instead of that, though, Kaito groaned and settled his arms back around him, linking his hands together in Shuichi’s lap. Kaito’s chest felt warm against his back, and the rise and fall of his breath lulled him into a sense of peace. Even if they were doing two completely separate activities–Kaito watching his favorite trivia show and Shuichi reading the newest novel he’d gotten–he loved spending this time with the other boy.

Until his phone, balanced on the top of the back of the couch, buzzed at him, and a glance at the contact name disturbed the quiet in his chest.

“Who is it?” Kaito asked, peering over his shoulder.

Shuichi paused, silent for a couple beats before answering. “My mother…” he said, with a foreboding building in his heart.

What could she want now, out of the blue like this?

He brought the cell phone to his ear. “Hello?”

Her voice sounded familiar yet so foreign at the same time. They rarely spoke, aside from the snatches of calls in between business and time differences, usually on holidays and his birthday. Superficial conversations–how are things going, anything new, how is his uncle–that only pretended that the thin thread of their relationship could be anything thicker than it was, that it wasn’t about to snap at any given moment. She talked at him now, and he felt only a fuzzy numbness grow inside his brain. Every now and then he would utter an “oh” or “I see”, without any real emotion behind his voice.

And the news she gave him soon into their conversation left him a large bitter pill to swallow.

The call ended both too soon and not soon enough. Shuichi wanted it to be over before it even began, yet in retrospect shouldn’t there have been more that they should say to each other. Mother and son, sharing such news, shouldn’t they have been able to spend hours on the phone until their tears came and then dried away?

Even when she began crying on the other line, Shuichi could do nothing but awkwardly wait and play with the pages of his book.

When it finished and Shuichi set the phone aside again, Kaito was waiting, having patiently listened to Shuichi’s meager side of the conversation with what was no doubt increasing concern and confusion. Especially when Shuichi hung up and didn’t immediately say anything after that.

“So… what was that about?” Kaito asked, the television now completely forgotten.

Still Shuichi didn’t answer, not right away. Some time passed, before he managed to find the words again, and some semblance of how he should even  _feel_  right now.

“My mother said… she told me that my father died…” he said at last, staring down at his lap. Even reading didn’t seem appealing anymore.

“Oh. Dude… Shuichi, I’m so sorry.” Kaito’s voice was filled with more emotion than Shuichi even felt right then, his arms wrapping tight and secure around his waist.

“Mm…” Shuichi made a noncommittal noise. He traced a finger over the bare skin of Kaito’s arm. What would he say if Shuichi told him that he didn’t even feel sad? “…hey, Kaito?”

He was almost afraid to find out. The thought that he’d be disgusted with Shuichi made him feel queasy.

“Yeah?”

Shuichi didn’t look up from his lap. He felt like he didn’t even deserve the warmth and sympathy in Kaito’s voice. “What if… I don’t feel anything? I mean, about my father’s death.”

“Do you?” Nothing in Kaito’s question gave away how he felt.

He took a breath before answering, as honestly as he could. “I… don’t think so? When my mother told me, she started crying but… I didn’t feel anything. It’s like, things just kept going as normal and nothing in me changed with the news. I didn’t…  _feel_  anything. My  _father_  is dead, and I just didn’t feel anything.”

Even if they’d been distant for much of Shuichi’s life, it didn’t feel right that he couldn’t manage a hint of sorrow.

The guilt felt worse than the news of his father’s death, and that knowledge made him feel all the more ashamed at his own reaction–rather, his lack thereof. Did he truly feel more sorry for  _himself_  than grief at a parent’s death?

No, maybe not sorry for himself, but still…

“Am… I a bad person, Kaito?” To him, only someone rotten to the core could feel nothing at the death of their parents.

“No way!” Kaito squeezed around Shuichi’s waist, holding him so close that he could practically feel his heartbeat on his back. He gritted his teeth, a part of him resistant to the comfort that he shouldn’t have–that he didn’t even deserve. “It happens, man. Sometimes the news hits you so hard that you’re just numb and in shock for a while, until the grief comes like… hours… days…  _years_  later even, I don’t know. It’s confusing, especially when someone dies so suddenly.”

The words rang hollow in Shuichi’s chest. He shook his head. Perhaps he had a point, but he didn’t feel as if it applied here.

“…but what if I…  _never_  feel anything?”

“Then that happens too. From what you’ve told me about your parents, you barely even  _know_  them. It’s hard to feel anything for someone you don’t have any connection to, no matter who they are or what you’re  _supposed_  to feel!” Kaito pressed a hard kiss to the top of his head. “I know you, Shuichi, and I swear to you that you aren’t a bad person. I’d bet my life on it, too, you’re one of the best people I know and I’m  _not_  just saying that because you’re my boyfriend and of course I’d be dating one of the greatest people around.”

A flicker of warmth sparked in his chest, before the emptiness around it snuffed it back out. He turned in Kaito’s embrace, so that he could curl up in his arms and rest the side of his face against his chest. Katio adjusted accordingly, reassuringly rubbing Shuichi’s arm.

The numbness still dominated him, but with such loving and strong arms around him and the thumping of Kaito’s heart in his ear, he could perhaps keep the self-loathing at bay for just a little while. At least Kaito didn’t think he was horrible.

“…I love you,” Shuichi murmured after what felt like a long time, but may have been only a matter of minutes.

“I love you too, Shuichi,” Kaito said back, without a trace of hesitation. “And I’m always here for you no matter what, ok? You’re an awesome person and I love you, man.”

Shuichi closed his eyes, with the faintest smile softening his lips. Yeah. He needed to hear that.

“Thank you, Kaito.”


	8. Oumota - Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {The real spotlight comes from the eyes that follow you wherever you go}**
> 
> Set in a post-VR AU, after the killing game. Being a celebrity because of a life or death situation sucks, especially when you get fans looking at you.

Kokichi hated shopping.

It had always been a miserable affair, with crowds and loud voices and screaming kids, but since the  _thrilling_  life-or-death adventure of the most recent–allegedly the  _53rd_ –Killing Game, anything that involved going out in public was a delight in Kokichi’s life.

And by ‘thrilling adventure’, he meant ‘horrific, traumatic experience’ and by ‘delight’, he meant ‘the  _worst,_ most stress-inducingthing he could possibly do with his time’. Truly Kokichi Ouma was  _blessed_  for the  _privilege_ of becoming a bonafide celebrity at the cost of his unwitting misery.

…yeah right.

Now everywhere he went, Kokichi couldn’t escape the–some subtle, some open–stares of the crowds he waded through. He saw them out of the corner of his eye, felt them on the back of his neck. A crawling sensation ran down his spine, and he drew closer to Kaito, as the taller boy pushed the shopping cart through the aisles without so much as a passing comment to acknowledge the other shoppers staring at them.

He glanced up, searching Kaito’s face for some hint of discomfort. Even if he said nothing, or if he refused to react, Kaito  _had_  to see it as well. Back in the killing game he’d  _lived_  for the spotlight, so Kokichi doubted that he’d be so oblivious as to not notice the very real attention the both of them got as they wandered the store.

Kokichi saw nothing there, however, and he didn’t know whether he was relieved that the other was not visibly disquieted by the experience or  _angry_  because he didn’t seem to notice a thing. Stupid Kaito. He didn’t even understand why he was even upset about it. Maybe he wanted someone to share in his own misery with the attention forced on him in the form of prying eyes and hushed whispers behind his back.

Maybe he just wished that Kaito would  _notice_  and somehow read the careful poker face that Kokichi kept up and end this stupid shopping trip already.

“Oh my gosh  _look_! Just go up to him!”

A clear exclamation cut through the low murmur of the store. Beside him, Kaito flinched, throwing a glance over in the direction of the voice, before he tightened his grip on the handle of the cart and fixed his gaze back on the endless rows of food on the shelves.

Ah.  _Kokichi_  was the stupid one. Of course Kaito would see the way people looked at them and hear the things they said, and  _of course_  he’d be just as uncomfortable with the attention as him. It couldn’t be any other way. No one would enjoy such a thing when their claim to fame was the fact that they were set up to kill each other and suffer for the entertainment of others.

Had they  _really_ gone into it willingly? He didn’t think so. Past him couldn’t be so. Fucking.  _Stupid_.

Kokichi followed where Kaito’s glance had gone, and saw a small group of kids. They couldn’t have been older than their preteens, making him wonder where their parents were even at, but what did he know? He’d been told that he looked like he was twelve, when he was actually much older.

Either way, he didn’t want to stick around for them to egg each other into the courage to approach him and Kaito. Kokichi decided that it was time to end the shopping trip. Right now.

“Kaaaito, I’m tired of walking around,” he whined, putting his entire weight on the other’s arm. “Shopping is so  _boring_ , let’s go home already.”

“What, seriously? We just got here,” Kaito said, yet despite the exasperation in his tone Kokichi didn’t miss the relief that flickered across his face.

“Yeah, seriously.” Kokichi made a show of examining his nails. “This blows, next time I totally refuse to come with you. You can take Shuichi instead.”

“Alright, alright, fine we’ll go. Just so you shut up.”

But as they paid for what they had and left, Kokichi knew that Kaito was just as eager to be out of there as he was, and he felt the tension drain away once they were out of the glare of all those prying eyes.

(God, if someone ever asked for his autograph, he’d probably drop dead on the very spot, fuck that world and everyone who enjoyed such a thing as a killing game.)


	9. Saimota (one-sided) - Hanging out with friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {The stars above are dim compared to the light of his smile}**
> 
>  
> 
> In which Shuichi’s got it bad, and Kaito doesn’t notice, virtual reality AU + post-killing game.

Shuichi started at the knock on his door. He sat up in bed, blinking until his eyes grew accustomed to the dark of his room. A glance at his clock told him it was two in the morning–way too late for visitors.

He swung his legs over the side of his bed, swaying from drowsiness as he stood. Once he got his balance, he made his way to the door, half-wondering if he’d imagined the knock. He didn’t. On the other side, shifting his weight from foot to foot, was Kaito, whose disgruntled expression brightened the moment the door swung open.

“Hey, Shuichi, what’s up?” he greeted cheerfully, as if he didn’t come knocking on Shuichi’s door in the middle of the night. “What are you up to right now?”

The question struck him as odd. Most people would be asleep at such an hour, and Shuichi was not an exception. Concern flickered across his expression as he answered. “Sleeping, actually. Why? Do you need something?”

It was as much an invitation for Kaito to confide in him as it was a genuine question. Even though Kaito grinned and acted as he normally did, giving off the impression that nothing was wrong, Shuichi had a hard time believing that he’d randomly decide to hang out at a time like this. Not that he’d complain if Kaito  _did_  simply want to spend time with him, but it worried him nonetheless.

“Aw, not really, just wanted to hang out with my buddy Shuichi!” If he really wasn’t feeling well, Kaito didn’t let on. “I felt like getting some fresh air, and I was gonna ask if you want to come with me. I get if you want to go back to sleeping, though, I guess it is kinda late…”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Shuichi said, the words out of his mouth before his brain registered what he was agreeing to.

In reality, it did not sound great at all, and his body whined at him to return to bed, but he wanted to accompany Kaito more than he wanted to go back to sleep. So he swallowed his complaints with a soft smile, shuffling backward into his room.

“Give me a minute to change, I’ll be right out.”

Kaito gave him that thousand-watt grin of his, and Shuichi’s heart skipped a beat. “Awesome! I’ll be waiting right here for you!”

With a pounding in his chest and warmth in his cheeks that he hoped that Kaito didn’t notice, Shuichi hurried to dress, and soon slipped out of his room to rejoin Kaito. Fortunately, if any red reached his cheeks, Kaito didn’t seem to notice, or figured that it was over something other than him if he did. He only grinned at Shuichi and announced where they were going–some nearby park he’d passed by on one of his outings–and led the way.

Shuichi trailed after him, Kaito’s ignorance of his fast-beating heart leaving a strange ache in his chest.

The streets were dark and empty when they exited the building, as would be expected, with only the occasional car passing them by. Kaito seemed to visibly relax, stretching his arms above his head with a long sigh of relief.

“Man, I hate being cooped up in there all day. It’s great being outside, don’t you think Shuichi?”

“You can go outside during the day too, you know,” Shuichi pointed out, feeling like a bit of a hypocrite doing so. He hated the stares he often got, so he spent more time than ever holed up in his room. Kaito seemed too confidence, too at ease with himself and the world around him, to do that though.

“Yeah I know. It’s just… hm, how should I put it?” Kaito paused, rubbing the back of his head. He looked around them, at the empty streets, to the stars above, before he at last answered with a nod to himself. “It’s different at night! Like, there’s tons less people, and there’s the stars too. See?”

Kaito pointed up at the sky, and Shuichi looked. A dark sky stretched over them, dotted with sparkling lights like a glittery canvas far above, and the moon casting a soft silvery light over the world. Pretty, he thought, looking back at Kaito. His friend hadn’t returned his gaze to him, still looking up at the stars.

“It’s not as bright as it is at my grandparents house,” he said, “but it sets me at ease when I come out and look at the night sky. It’s like, no matter what happens, the stars are still there, still waiting for Kaito Momota to blaze his way through! And I know I’ll be up there too, someday.”

As Kaito spoke, Shuichi watched as his expression softened, a smile so steady, so bright that it seemed to light up the world around them. He could watch Kaito all night, talking about the stars and his dreams and whatever random stuff that might come to his mind, as long as he would wear a smile like that more often. If he’d smile at Shuichi like he did the night sky.

Then suddenly those purple eyes met his, and it was like the stars themselves came down to look at him.

“Get what I mean?”

Shuichi internally shook himself, breaking him out of the spell he found himself in. “Yeah… I get it,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound as utterly lovesick as he felt while staring at Kaito.

He did get it. Even if he didn’t feel quite the same way about the stars, he understood the effect they had on Kaito. Although he’d never be able to say something so sappy to his friend, it was the same exact feeling he got when he stood beside Kaito. The same feeling as when the other grinned at him and praised him as his sidekick, encouraging and pushing Shuichi more than Shuichi would ever push himself. With Kaito, he felt like everything might be alright, even if the world was busy crashing down.

And yet at the same time it made him feel sick, that he couldn’t say these things to Kaito. Shuichi couldn’t think of a way to make them sound platonic, because  _god_  they were not, none of this was something he should be feeling about a friend. What could he say?

‘ _I think I’m in love with you–as friends, I mean_.’ How stupid did that sound?

“Hey, you feeling alright, Shuichi? You look a little distracted.”

‘No,’ he wanted to say, and didn’t. ‘I think I really like you and I can’t ever say it, because you’ll never think of me in the same way’.

“Yeah,” he said instead, forcing a smile. Despite the melancholy left in his heart, it was worth it to come out with Kaito tonight to dispel whatever was bothering Kaito’s. “Think I’m just tired. Let’s go check out that park.”

And Kaito laughed, none the wiser to the dark cloud in Shuichi’s chest. “It is pretty late I guess, sorry. Yeah, let’s go. It’s right down this way.”


	10. Oumota - Watching the other sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {A bouquet of white and yellow tulips, in bed together}**
> 
>  
> 
> Kokichi avoids any serious conversation about his feelings, pines for a one-sided love that's really mutual.

“Hey, Kokichi? You asleep?”

Even with his eyes closed, he knew that Kaito had himself propped up with one arm, the other draped over Kokichi’s waist as he gazed down at the supposedly sleeping boy. Probably with some dumb face, wanting to talk about the time they just spent together. Feelings and shit that Kokichi didn’t feel ready to talk about, and the arm around him felt like a trap to keep him there.

Well, the joke was on him, because Kokichi had plenty of methods of fleeing a conversation even without actually running away.

…

Kokichi let out a breathy sigh, shifting as if in sleep to huddle closer to the warmth at his back. For a minute more Kaito didn’t move, likely trying to determine whether he was truly asleep or faking, as if he had any hope of doing so. Sure enough, those sixty seconds passed–he knew because he counted them down–and Kaito reluctantly laid down behind him.

The arm around him squeezed, strong and affectionate, and if Kokichi didn’t know any better he’d think that Kaito actually liked him or something. Stupid, because Kokichi didn’t even know how he felt about that big, dumb, stupidly handsome idiot anyway.

His heart picked up its pace; his body felt warm, and not just from leeching off of Kaito’s body heat against him. He resisted the urge to frown.

And he waited.

One minute, two… five, then ten minutes passed. Eventually Kaito’s breath grew deep and even, and had been for a while. Only then did Kokichi move, flipping over in the embrace and opening his eyes to gaze up at the sleeping face of the boy in bed with him. Smooth, peaceful, with none of the grins or the bravado he put on during the day for all the others. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but he knew that an unconscious expression was a truthful one.

Kokichi raised a hand, swiping his thumb across the stubbly jawline. Kaito probably shaved every day, probably even took  _hours_  to get ready, judging from the way his hair spiked up every day. Dummy, he looked much better with his hair tousled and damp from the shower in a way that made Kokichi want to run his fingers through it for some reason. Yeah. ‘ _Some_  reason’.

He bit down that urge, and laid his palm against Kaito’s cheek instead, snickering when Kaito sighed out and subconsciously nuzzled into his hand. He wondered who Kaito was thinking of in his dream. Not him surely, Kokichi thought with a strange ache in his chest, not with how he bothered and infuriated Kaito day in and day out.

A few moments passed where he didn’t move, didn’t do anything but watch Kaito’s still face and listened to slow breathing. Then, ever so slowly, he pulled his hand away and leaned his face in to rest close to Kaito’s chest. His arms adjusted to accommodate Kokichi, and it hurt as much as it endeared him how warm and safe it made him feel. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that he was falling for the idiot, but there was no way…

Kokichi exhaled, and the ache in his chest deepened. Who was he kidding? He was hopelessly, stupidly, head-over-heels crushing on this dumbass who’d never return his feelings. Not really, except in pity, which this all must be right now. Not that Kaito would ever actually  _admit_  that. He was way too nice and people-pleasing for that. Dummy.

He hated liars like that. Even if he also  _really_  liked them, too. So maybe that made himself the real idiot here.

Regardless, he forced his thoughts to shut off, as well as he could. That would be something to deal with in the morning, when he snuck out before Kaito could wake up and try to talk about what happened here that night. He’d be damned if he  _ever_  admitted to having something like  _feelings_  for him.

Especially when he knew he’d only end up getting rejected, in the end.


	11. Oumota + implied saioumota - Drawing each other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {And then they probably make out or something but that’s a story for some other rainy day}**
> 
> Kaito is bored. He draws. Kokichi is bored. He does as Kokichi does

Even someone who kept his mind and body as busy as Kaito tried to fell victim to boredom from time to time.

He listened to the tapping of the rain on the window, reminding him of his ruined plans to go for a nice long jog, probably while dragging Shuichi along with him. Shuichi seemed to have no issues with it when Kaito regrettably informed him that they wouldn’t be able to go now, and had gone straight back to the book he’d been reading when Kaito found him.

If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that his sidekick preferred reading for hours at a time to going on a hard run out under the warm sun. Which, alright, maybe Kaito  _did_  know better and Shuichi actually  _did_  prefer doing exactly that. He was always willing to join Kaito on his almost-daily jogs, however, and he was sure that Shuichi would eventually learn to love it.

When he’d told Kokichi, however, he’d simply gotten a strange look and the question, “Why can’t you?” and then, when Kaito explained that it was raining, “Wow, sounds like a lame excuse for the weak.”

And then Kokichi had giggled and slipped out of the room and all but vanished before Kaito could even yell at him that he  _wasn’t_  weak.

Regardless, that left Kaito bored and sitting at the table, with his chin resting in his hand and pencil absently doodling little drawings into the margins of his notebook.

As the pages slowly filled up, Kokichi decided to finally make his reappearance, chirping out a cheerful greeting as he slid into the chair just across from him. When Kaito shot him a grumpy look, false tears gathered at the corners of his eyes and he gave a dramatic sniff.

“Whaaaat? What’s that scary look for? I just wanted to see what my dear, beloved Kaito was up tooooo.”

In response, Kaito only rolled his eyes and returned his attention to his notebook without speaking. Not one to be ignored, Kokichi scooted his chair in closer to the table, trying to peer over to Kaito’s notebook. “What  _are_  you up to? Let me see!”

“I’m just drawing,” Kaito said simply, turning his notebook for a brief moment to show Kokichi before he flipped it back around and went right back to doodling. “I’m just bored.”

“Ooooh, I seeeee. How  _boring_.”

Despite that claim, Kokichi remained sitting and watching him. The two fell into a comfortable silence, save for the pattering of rain and the scratch of pencil on paper. At one point, Kokichi remarked that the bunnies he doodled were awfully fluffy and cute for someone who acted as hard and manly as Kaito did. To which of course Kaito told him to shut up and that he wasn’t just  _acting_  manly, he  _was_  manly.

For the most part, however, Kokichi was surprisingly quiet for once, and didn’t try to bother him very much. It was nice.

Unfortunately, the pleasant silence between them didn’t last.

“Oh oh, you know what will be totally not boring?” Kokichi piped up leaning his arms on the table. “You should draw  _me_.”

Kaito glanced up at him, confused. “And… why wouldn’t that be boring?” It sounded about the same as drawing anything else.

“ _Because_  it’s me! Duh!” he said. He reached a hand out. “And also because I’m gonna draw you too and it’ll be the best drawing in the world, so give me some paper.”

Rolling his eyes, Kaito ripped a few pages from his notebook, passing it across the table to Kokichi along with one of his spare pencils. “You know, if you wanted to draw too, you could’ve just asked.”

“No, I want us to draw each other! So you better give your best shot at it, got it?”

“Sure, fine, whatever.”

Kaito didn’t see any reason not to humor him. He didn’t have much artistic skills except for the tiny little objects he’d already done and stick figures, so he’d just go with that. Every now and then he glanced up at Kokichi, half to pretend that he was studying the other. It was actually kind of cute, the cheerful smile that lit upon Kokichi’s face, every now and then nibbling at his lower lip as he drew. Kaito couldn’t help but smile as well, dropping his gaze away before Kokichi could catch him staring and tease him over it.

Eventually, Kokichi set his pencil down, sitting up straight. “Alright! Let me see what you did!”

“Yeah, here,” he said, and lifted his notebook to show him the little stick figure man on the page, with a scribble of hair that vaguely looked like the shape of Kokichi’s on it, where clearly the most effort of the drawing had been spent. Kokichi looked at it with his bright grin still in place.

“Wow! It looks like shit!”

Even if Kaito hadn’t been trying, the words still made him shoot a glare across the table. “Fuck you! Let’s see what you did, then, if you’re so good!”

“Of course! Look and be amazed at the talent of the Ultimate Supreme Leader!” he announced, and held the paper up for Kaito to behold.

It was a stick figure. With spiky hair that was apparently supposed to be Kaito’s.

“Fuck off that’s the exact same as mine, you asshole!”

“Nuh-uhhhhh, look, see?” Kokichi tapped his eraser against a heart that’d been drawn next to Stick-Kaito. “It’s clearly superior to yours.”

Kaito threw his notebook at Kokichi, and the latter laughed as it glanced off of his shoulder harmlessly. Hopping up out of the chair, he snatched the notebook up from where it’d landed on the floor, waving it tauntingly in Kaito’s direction. “Nee-heehee, my grand plan was a success. Kaito’s precious notebook is mine now. Bye~!”

And Kokichi darted out of the room, with Kaito’s notebook claimed for himself. It left Kaito with absolutely nothing left to occupy himself with. He stood up so quickly that his chair knocked over. Without paying it any mind, he went to give chase.

“You asshole, get back here!”


	12. Saimota - Making out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {I mean really, does it need a title to tell you what’s happening here}**
> 
> Well... you know.

Kaito fidgeted underneath him, his hands alighting on Shuichi’s hips before he moved them away, like he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with them. He couldn’t look Shuichi in the eye for more than a few seconds. It surprised him to see someone as confident as Kaito to act so nervous the moment Shuichi straddled him.

Observing his behavior, Shuichi lost the surge of confidence he’d felt when he slid into Kaito’s lap. Every part of his body language was telling Shuichi that he didn’t want to be doing this, but wasn’t saying anything.

He swallowed.

“Kaito… you don’t have to kiss me. I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to.” In fact, it’d be worse if he just went along with this because  _Shuichi_  wanted it.

“No, no, it’s not–.  _Man_.” Kaito rubbed the back of his head, making a visible effort to meet Shuichi’s gaze. “Don’t laugh, but it’s just that I’ve never done anything like… this… before.”

Shuichi blinked slowly.

“You mean… kiss another guy before?”

“No not that! I mean  _yes_ , I guess, but I’ve never actually kissed or made out with anyone before alright?” Kaito was avoiding his eyes again. “It’s just that the right person never came around and I was too focused on studying for that exam and then I was too busy with training and just–I said don’t laugh!”

Shuichi’s lips had quirked into a smile, and at Kaito’s outburst he quickly attempted to smother it with limited success. “I’m not laughing at you. It’s just that you’re so…”

He searched for the word he wanted. Cute? Adorable?

“…endearing,” Shuichi settled on, slipping his arms around Kaito’s neck. The action brought them even closer together, chests almost touching and faces mere inches apart. “I mean, it’s not like I really know what I’m doing either.”

Their noses bumped as he drew in for a kiss, bringing their lips together for a few seconds before pulling back again.

“You can start by putting your hands  _on_  me, though,” he breathed, and hummed when he felt Kaito’s hands tentatively find his waist again. “Yeah… you can touch me, it’s ok…”

“Then you just–.” ‘ _go with it’_ he was going to say, but the rest of Shuichi’s words were muffled into Kaito’s mouth as the latter leaned forward to lock their lips together. He let out a quiet groan, eyes fluttering closed, and he decided to leave the talking for later, and pay attention to Kaito’s warm body against his instead.


	13. Oumota - Eating ice cream + Clothing swap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Writing this gave me Déjà Vu}**
> 
> This was also part of Oumota week, day one, as well as day thirteen for my 30 day challenge
> 
> Kokichi gets ice cream in the middle of winter. Kaito is exasperated.

 “Dude, are you serious?”

Kaito’s flabbergasted outburst was met with a pout from Kokichi as he received his ice cream cone and turned away from the counter. He didn’t seem to understand the reason for Kaito’s outrage, or at least pretended not to anyway. He probably knew exactly what he was doing, that was just something that Kokichi did to get under his skin.

“What? I’m a big boy, I’m allowed to eat all the ice cream I want,” he said. As if  _that_  was the problem.

“Well yeah, sure, fine but it’s fucking freezing outside!”

Kokichi shrugged, bringing the cone to his lips. “It’s always worth it for ice cream.”

“When you’re whining about it being cold, I’m just going to say I told you so and you’ll have to tough it out,” Kaito warned, crossing his arms.

“I’m not going to whine! I can’t believe you think so little of me!” Kokichi frowned hard up at him in such a way that Katio couldn’t tell if he was genuinely offended or not.

Unfortunately Kaito didn’t have much time to ponder it, because soon after that Kokichi turned on his heel and stalked off toward the front of the store. A beat passed before Kaito got moving as well, his long strides making it easy to catch up to Kokichi despite his quick steps.

Neither of them spoke, Kokichi pointedly ignoring him by keeping busy with his ice cream and Kaito not bothering to try and make him talk. He didn’t see any point in it. Eventually Kokichi would get bored and break the silence, especially once he ran out of ice cream to focus on. Kaito didn’t enjoy the thought of dealing with a truly grumpy Kokichi before he was good and ready to speak.

The doors to the store slid open, and the two stepped outside. The very moment they did, Kokichi stopped in his tracks and wrapped his arms around himself.

“Kaitooo, it’s so cold out here!”

Kaito stopped midstep as well, for a very different reason.

He stared down at the shivering boy in disbelief. “Seriously? You just told me you weren’t going to whine?”

Kokichi sniffed dramatically, turning those wide pitiful eyes up at him. “But I forgot how freezing cold it was out here!” Even as he spoke, he took a huge bite–an actual, real  _chomp_  on the ice cream that made Kaito cringe to see–and he held a hand out to him. “Let me wear your jacket!”

His jaw dropped. He quickly snapped it closed again before Kokichi could remark on it and bristled at the demand. “No fucking way! I told you it was cold out here and you bought the ice cream anyway, so it’s your fault if you’re cold now! Tough!”

“Wow, that’s so mean. I can’t believe you’ll let me freeze to death just so you can have your ‘I told you so’.”

“I did tell you though.”

Kaito had to fight back a laugh as Kokichi huffed at his retort, but it was difficult to stay amused when the rest of the way home Kokichi continued to pout and shiver. Yet although Kokichi didn’t say anything more about how cold he was, Kaito was certain that he was just trying to get him to give in and hand over his jacket. Which he wouldn’t do! Kaito resolved to stay strong, no matter what.

Even if when he glanced at Kokichi, he could see the purple tinge of his lips from cold, and how his lower lip shivered even after he’d long finished his ice cream cone. It was Kokichi’s fault anyway. He  _warned_  him, he really did.

…and he was still weak to Kokichi’s apparent misery.

“Dammit, you know I can’t stand you looking like this,” Kaito grumbled, shrugging his jacket off his shoulders to toss it across Kokichi’s. “I swear this is the last time I do this for you, go it.”

Instantly Kokichi brightened, slipping his arms through the sleeves. His fingertips just barely poked out of their lengths. “Yay! Kaito does have a heart after all!”

“Hey, of course I have a heart! Geez!”

Lips turning up in a cheeky grin, Kokichi reached up to the scarf he loved to wear around his neck. Making quick work of the knot, he pulled it away and stood on his toes to tie it around Kaito’s neck instead.

“Here! Since you gave me your jacket, you can wear this!” He dropped down to the balls of his feet, rocking back onto his heels. “There! What do you think?”

“Suffocating.” Kaito reached up, giving it a good few tugs to loosen it. “I dunno, feels strange to be wearing something. How does it look?”

Kokichi hummed in thought, tilting his head to the side. “It looks dumb!” he chirped out, and his smile grew wide. “Or that’s what I would say if Kaito weren’t as stupidly handsome as he is. It doesn’t look half bad on you at all.”

The irritation stirring in his chest at the first part of Kokichi’s answer choked off into pleasant surprise at the second. Kaito averted his eyes, feeling the heat creep up into his cheeks. Something about Kokichi complimenting him… In an attempt to cover up his embarrassment, he reached out to grab Kokichi’s hand, once again starting off for home.

Kokichi giggled, but he didn’t feel as if his answer had been a joke at all, and he squeezed his boyfriend’s hand. His fingertips were icy from the cold, and a little sticky from ice cream as well, but Kaito didn’t mind all that much. The day might be cold without his jacket, and his boyfriend might act like a little shit from time to time, but with the heat in his chest and Kokichi’s fingers intertwined with his, Kaito wouldn’t have it any other way.

Except maybe being home and warm beneath a blanket with a sleepy affectionate Kokichi. At least he’d have that soon, he thought as the hint of a smile wormed its way onto his face at the thought.

Yeah. Soon.

 

 


	14. Oumota - Geeking out about something + First date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {More than space rocks and stars and shit}**
> 
> Also part of oumota week, was day 2.
> 
> They reminisce a bit about their first date, and Kaito is also a space nerd. Irumatsu is also mentioned.

“An amusement park? How  _boring_.”

“Hey, I think it’s a fun date! No matter what, they can enjoy themselves and there’s not too much pressure to act like a couple as they get comfortable with each other.”

“Well I  _guess_ , but still.” Kokichi leaned against Kaito’s arm, head on his shoulder and a pout turned up toward him. “I mean, I sorta expect a first date from Miu to suck because she’d probably just want to jump straight to some weird kink of hers, but I thought Kaede was better than that. Amusement parks are just so cliche.”

Kaito shook his head. “I think it’s fine. I’m sure they’ll have fun. Besides, it’s not your date anyway, so leave them alone,” he said. If Kokichi bothered them when they returned from their date, then he’d have a stern scolding coming his way.

“I  _am_  gonna leave them alone. Well. I will after they spill all the juicy details about it, of course.”

Not a reassuring statement, but Kaito groaned and resolved to steer him away if he tried harassing the girls. For now he held his silence, wrapping an arm around Kokichi and drawing him in close. Kokichi nuzzled into his chest with a contented sigh that he just barely caught. He smiled at the sound, but didn’t comment on it, knowing that Kokichi would probably deny it and move away in some stubborn mood of his.

“Hey Kaito,” Kokichi spoke up again after a short silence, drumming his fingers against Kaito’s thigh. “Kaede and Miu have a totally boring first date, but do you know what was  _my_  favorite first date?”

The way he worded it made Kaito raise an eyebrow. There was only one answer that made sense, and yet he suspected a trick of some kind behind the question, and so he hesitated before he answered at last. “Was it… ours?”

“Well duh! It’d be weird if it was some other person’s first date, geez.” Kokichi splayed his hand against Kaito’s leg, his face turned down as if to inspect his fingernails. Kaito felt the brief urge to shake him.

It passed. He rolled his eyes instead.

“Yeah how could I have ever thought anything else with how you asked me,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I know right?” Kokichi glanced up at him, a smile on his lips and his eyes wide with feigned innocence. “Exactly!”

“Goddammit, you’re lucky I love you,” he muttered.

“How mean! Aren’t you even gonna ask  _why_  it’s my favorite?”

Kaito paused a beat, wondering if he should entertain him or not. In the end he gave in, as he almost always did. After all, he found himself curious about it himself. “Sorry, why is it your favorite?”

“Because. Because remember? We were just walking around and you  _had_  to go into that museum because they were doing tours through their space exhibit, and the tour guide was going to bore me to death.“ A brief sorrowful look crossed his face, before his grin returned bigger and brighter than before. “But then you started talking about alllll you knew about the displays and you got so excited about it and it was so cute how nerdy you got about it and way more interesting than that dumb monotone tour guide.”

Kaito sputtered. “Cute?  _Nerdy_?”

“Mm-hm! I had no idea Kaito was such a huge nerd.” Kokichi wrapped his arms around Kaito’s waist, resting his chin on his chest to continue gazing up at him with a self-satisfied smirk. “It made me think about how I wanted you to look at me the same way you look when you talk about space rocks and stars and shit.”

“Kokichi…” Wow, he didn’t know what to say to that.

Until Kokichi snickered, breaking the touching mood he’d set. “Just kidding!” And before Kaito could shout at him for such a terrible joke, he winked and added, “Kaito’s such a big softy that he already looks at my cute face like that!”

“ _Geez_. You’re fuckin insufferable sometimes,” Kaito said, shaking his head in exasperation.

“But you didn’t deny what I said~!”

Kaito squeezed his arms around Kokichi, pressing a hard kiss against his forehead. “I mean, sure. You drive me insane, but I love you. More than I love ‘space rocks and stars and shit’.”

Those were a very close second, though.


	15. Oumota - Lies/Honesty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Surrounded by daffodils}**
> 
> A continuation of chapter 10. Kokichi tries to leave, Kaito tries to talk, and it all goes horribly wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warnings for some light sexual themes and mentioned sex.**

Kokichi awoke with a sharp breath, his eyes flying open to the sight of the warm bare chest in front of him. It didn’t take long for him to gain his bearings. Kaito’s arms around him, the softly breathing boy beside him, quiet and peaceful. In his sleep he held Kokichi so sweetly, as if he wanted him close and secure against him.

It felt warm. It felt safe.

It felt absolutely disgusting.

Holding his breath, he inched his way backward out of Kaito’s arms, until the sleeping boy’s fingertips slipped off of his hip and he reached the end of the bed. Only once he turned over and stood did he allow himself to breath easy, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that his movements hadn’t disturbed Kaito.

His heart skipped a beat at the sight. Kaito’s hair was a mess from the pillow, having gone to sleep with it still damp, and his lips were just slightly parted. Kokichi remembered that very mouth on his neck, sucking at his sensitive skin, and he jerked his gaze away as a wave of heat washed over him at the memories.

It had been stupid of him to let Kaito get him into bed like that. He knew that the hot-tempered guy couldn’t possibly like someone as irritating and evasive as him, and whether he actually did have feelings for an idiot like Kaito or not, he was only setting himself up to be hurt by falling victim to those heated look and exploring hands.

Except that Kaito would want to talk about what happened. Maybe he’d lie and say that he  _did_  have feelings for Kokichi. Maybe he’d try and let Kokichi down easy. Or maybe he’d go on and on about how what they’d done was a mistake, a moment of weakness that he regretted, and that they should move on as if it’d never happened. No matter what, Kokichi didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to talk about those feelings that he hadn’t even yet sorted out for himself.

Stupid Kaito. Stupid, sweet, handsome Kaito.

“Mm, Kokichi?”

Speaking of the devil… Kokichi froze, having bent down to pick up his discarded shirt from the floor. He looked up, masking the surge of guilt with a neutral expression. Shit. The previous night he’d feigned sleep to avoid the talk, and planned to get away early in the morning before Kaito could even wake up. Unfortunately, Kaito now stirred, and drowsy eyes squinted at him from his former place on the bed.

When Kokichi said nothing, half hoping he’d just go back to sleep, Kaito once again disappointed him but pushing himself up into a sitting position, running a tired hand through his hair.

“Where’re y’going?” Kaito’s voice slurred a bit, low and husky from sleep, and Kokichi had to actively fight the urge to bite his lower lip in order to keep his blank mask in place.

“Hm? What, can’t I get dressed?” He resumed movement, straightening his back and starting to pull his shirt over his head. It concealed the nervous twitch of his mouth as he faked a light whining tone. “Don’t be such a pervert, Kaito, it’s cold and I want to put clothes on.”

“Huh? What, no?” When his head popped through the neck of his shirt, he saw that Kaito had averted his eyes. Embarrassed? Trying to give him some hint of privacy? How sweet. “I was just–.”

Kaito scrubbed his hands over his face. It gave Kokichi hope that he might be able to escape while he was still waking up. He shoved his arms through the holes of his shirt, tugging it down as he snatched up his pants.

“I–wait. Wait, hey.” The bedsprings creaked as Kaito crawled across the bed. “I wanted to talk to you. About last night.”

The words dropped a ball of acid into his heart, an icy hot sensation permeating through his chest. Kokichi swallowed against the lump in his throat. The edges of his brain felt fuzzy, and yet he forced himself to look at Kaito.

And grinned.

“Huh? What’s there to talk about?” he asked with a cheer he didn’t feel, feigning confusion.

He was doing a good job of faking it, he thought, because his innocently posed question made Kaito hesitate, now sitting on the edge of the bed and staring at Kokichi like he might find something of the truth in his perfectly controlled expression. And when Kaito did answer him, he sounded unsure. Not by much, granted, but to the practiced ear of a liar the uncertainty was definitely there.

“What do you mean? What do you think there is? We just had sex last night, Kokichi, we can’t just pretend that didn’t happen.”

Something about the way Kaito stated it so plainly, a frankness that he envied, made Kokichi internally wince. He didn’t respond right away, letting a slightly puzzled scowl do the talking for him as he pulled his bottoms on and mulled over the words he wanted to say in his mind.

And when he did, he kept it short and sweet. “So?”

A heavy silence punctuated his question, with a tension so thick that Kokichi could hardly breathe. For a minute he didn’t know whether Kaito would answer or not, or whether he would just continue staring with that dumb expression until Kokichi fled the room.

He did at last, however, and the injury in his tone stabbed Kokichi through the heart.

“What do you mean ‘so’? We had–Kokichi, I don’t go around fucking people, and I don’t think you do either, so I thought we would–that we could talk about this. About what happened, and why, y’know?”

Kokichi steeled himself. Too late to go back, he was all in now. Tucking his hands behind his head, he gave Kaito a bemused smile. “Haven’t you ever heard of one-night stands?”

“What?”

“One-night stands, silly! This didn’t mean anything and it’s not going to happen again, so there’s just nothing to talk about!” His lips curled into a disgustingly sweet smile that he hated himself for. “Stop lying to yourself, I hate liars. You don’t actually have feelings for me, you just wanted to fuck me and it felt good, so don’t pretend that you  _loooove_  me now that we had some fun. Got it?”

Kokichi finished speaking with a bright flourish of arms. His hands began to shake, the desire to run away bringing him anxiety. He didn’t want this talk, and he hated the mixture of hurt and betrayal that showed itself openly on Kaito’s face. A lie, a lie, he told himself. Eventually Kaito would realize it anyway, so it was better to rip off the bandaid now.

Yet in that suffocating silence that followed, Kokichi wanted to  _die_.

“Get out,” Kaito said, his voice low and quiet, almost a whisper.

He expected it, and yet somehow it still caught him by surprise. “Huh?”

“Get the fuck out of here!” With a shout, Kaito tore a pillow off the bed and threw it at Kokichi, making him flinch away as it hit him and fell to the floor.

His expression flickered, before he snapped his mask right back into place. Good good good, this was good, it was better this way, it was good.

(He didn’t want this, he wanted to cry and apologize. It felt weird and horrible to build these lies as a wall against Kaito.)

But Kokichi could only hurt and hurt and hurt some more. It was better that Kaito remembered that now. So he maintained his smile, and shrugged nonchalantly in the face of the tears he thought he saw gathering in the other’s eyes.

“Whatevs, geez, I was just leaving.”


	16. Oumota - Needing each other + Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Mood of the day: get these kids some therapy}**
> 
> VR AU, post-killing game, but the nightmares seem to have followed Kaito out of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warning for character dream death, neck snapping**

His limbs moved as if through a thick syrup, yet he still desperately dragged himself forward. Sweat beaded on his forehead and ran down the back of his neck, and his chest burned and he struggled to even breath. Yet he didn’t let up, inching forward with his eyes desperately fixed on a single point ahead of him.

A noose was tied around their neck, their feet balancing precariously on the thin beam below them. First it’d been Shuichi, then Maki, then Kokichi, yet no matter whose face he saw in that person, he still fought to get there, to do something, to save them.

Yet his arms wouldn’t move like he wanted them to, and he couldn’t push his legs any faster no matter how hard he tried to run. And just as he finally managed to get nearly close enough to grab them, his foot found a button beneath it and his weight triggered its mechanism.

The beam fell away, and they fell, an awful snapping noise as loud as a roar in his ears.

A desperate yell tore from his throat and he fell to his knees. The button–he’d stepped on the button. He’d killed them, he let them die. He couldn’t save them. He killed them.

Something grabbed him. He twisted away, lashed out–

“Ow!!”

–and opened his eyes to a dark room at the sound of Kokichi’s voice.

“You’re so mean for hitting me! All I did was wake you up because you looked like you were having a bad dream and you hit me!”

Kaito blinked away the images of the nightmare. He was in bed, in his room, safe, albeit soaked in sweat and tangled in the blanket that’d been wrapped around him in his fitful sleep. Kokichi knelt beside him on the mattress, pouting as he massaged a spot on his arm where Kaito had presumably hit him. The guilt he felt was fleeting, his shaken brain latching onto the first thing he could focus on that wasn’t the dream he’d just had.

“Huh? What? What are you doing in my room?” he asked, still catching his breath.

Kokichi shot him an injured look. “You don’t remember? You were so scared last night that you wanted me to stay the night with you! So I did, out of the kindness of my own heart, but then you started flailing and grunting in your sleep and you totally woke me up, so I had to wake you up too!”

“Is… Is that right?”

Kaito was pretty sure that he hadn’t asked Kokichi to stay, nor had he been there before Kaito fell asleep. His heart may have still been pounding and his thoughts racing, but he could remember that much.

“Yeah of course! You’re lucky you had me here too, since you were having such a bad time,” Kokichi said, sounding a little breathless. Perhaps from being hit by Kaito in his sleep. Or perhaps…

The moment he had enough presence of mind to do so, Kaito gave Kokichi a quick once-over. Only then did he notice the faint tremble of Kokichi’s hands as his held the sheets with a white-knuckled grip, as if trying to force them to still. If he wasn’t so close he probably wouldn’t have noticed it. And if Kokichi had indeed come into his room at some point during the night while Kaito slept, and he looked shaken to the point that it slipped past his attempts to hide it, that probably meant that the other’s sleep had been just as disturbed as Kaito’s had been.

With difficult, Kaito extracted himself from the tangle of blanket. Once he did, he lay flat on his back, his arms flung out to the sides.

“Thanks for waking me,” he said, and he meant it. A beat passed before he managed to ask, “Do you think you could lay down with me?”

It seemed like they both could use a hug, although he didn’t point that out.

“Geez, you’re so needy,” Kokichi said, without bite. “I guess I could do that. Since I’m such a nice person and all.”

And without wasting a second more, Kokichi laid down at Kaito’s side, throwing an arm over his chest. Kaito wrapped his arms around him, feeling the smaller boy tremble against him. He rubbed his back until the faint shaking subsided, and Kokichi nuzzled his face into Kaito’s chest.

“You’re really sweaty,” Kokichi murmured.

Kaito hummed his affirmation.

“It’s gross.”

And yet he made no attempts to move away, and eventually the two nodded off again in each others arms. A sweet, dreamless sleep awaited him. This time Kaito didn’t wake up, until the sun fell across his eyes and Kokichi whined and buried his own face into Kaito’s chest, whining about having just five more minutes of sleep.

To which Kaito was all too happy to oblige. Just the one time though, of course.


	17. Oumota - Washing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Where the sky and water meet}**
> 
>  
> 
> **Kaito visits the merman who’s taken a liking to both him and the sweets he brings. He can’t deny that cute face, even if he does go home wet and smelling like fish.**

Standing waist-deep in water, feeling the waves push and pull him along, Kaito couldn’t help but imagine what could happen to someone alone in the ocean like this. While the shore wasn’t too far away, it was devoid of anyone who might see something if Kaito ran into a problem. An image like that made him nervous for a brief moment, before he forced his thoughts elsewhere, to the very reason why he needed a secluded beach instead.

He focused on the goal ahead of him, a rocky outcropping that he found made a perfect place to sit. Kaito waded towards it, holding his messenger bag up so that it wouldn’t get wet.

As he reached it, out of the corner of his eye he saw something darting toward him. He spun around, teetering dangerously from the quick movement. The shape moved in on him fast, the water bending over it as it swam towards him.

“Shit, dammit,” he muttered to himself, holding his bag above his head and bracing himself.

The swimming shape breached the water’s surface with a splash, and Kaito just caught sight of a bright-smiling face and mischievous purple eyes before it hit him, wet arms wrapping around his chest and he stumbled backwards one… two… three steps…

And fell backward into the water.

A spray of bubbles escaped his mouth as his head dunked below the surface, before he had the good sense to hold his breath. Somehow, miraculously, he kept his bag held aloft and above the water as he used his free hand to grope at the muddy sand beneath him. He pushed himself back up, and once again got to his feet.

This time with a new weight hanging off of him.

“What the hell was that for, Kokichi? I brought you cake, and you’re going to ruin it by getting it wet like that.”

A deceptively human face grinned up at him, the iridescent purple fins at the sides of his head wiggling in delight. The sharp teeth that lined his mouth had once intimidated Kaito, but now they were nowhere near as unnerving as the way the merman now batted his second set of eyelids at him, the translucent film slipping down and up over his eyeballs making him shudder at the sight.

“And will you stop that? It’s creepy.”

“Stop what? I’m just soooo happy to see you. It’s boring and lonely in the ocean by my self alllll week.” Kokichi pouted, as if he wasn’t fully aware that what he was doing gave Kaito chills. Despite his feigned innocence, he did stop, his gaze flickering up to the bag that Kaito still held above his head. “Oooh, ohh, you brought me cake? Gimme, gimme!”

“Hold on, let me sit down first, geez. You’re such a child,” he grumbled, mostly to himself as he waded the short distance left between him and the outcropping that’d been his original goal. The rock that had become a meeting place for him and the (quite excited) merman.

Kokichi released him, splashing back down into the water and drifting until Kaito sat down and got himself situated. The moment he did, and the messenger bag was set to the side where it wouldn’t accidentally fall into the water, Kokichi hauled himself up out of the water with surprising strength for such a slim upper body. He flopped right into Kaito’s lap, wiggling around until he could recline against the rock with him, sitting right beside him with his tail thrown across Kaito.

He grinned, wrapping his arms around him. Always touchy, Kaito found, but that could only be expected. From what Kokichi told him, there wasn’t exactly anyone that he could touch and cuddle with in the open ocean. Mermaids–mermen? merfolk?–seemed to be mainly solitary. Kaito would be touch-starved too in that case.

“Ok, you’re sitting! Now gimme my cake!”

Kaito almost wanted to say no with how demanding Kokichi was acting, but he couldn’t bear to refuse him with the way his eyes sparkled with unrestrained excitement. So he muttered out a half-reluctant assent, opening his bag to pull out a plastic container, with a piece of cake that he’d bought at the nearby bakery on his way there.

Kokichi snatched it from him the moment he had it within reach, tearing it open and grabbing the cake whole with his bare hand. Globs of frosting squished off between his fingers, and Kaito grimaced as he held his fistful of cake to his face and chomped into it.

“I brought a fork you know…” he said, to which Kokichi gave him a puzzled look, but didn’t respond.

Right, Kaito supposed it didn’t matter anyway. Although it seemed unpleasant and messy to him, he guessed that anything would just wash off once he went back into the water. Besides… Kokichi’s regular diet of fish guts and other raw seafood had to be messier than bread and frosting.

“Mmm,” Kokichi hummed out his pleasure as he devoured the slice. It was gone in no time, and he slowly licked the frosting from his fingers. “It’s so good, next time you should bring me more.”

“We’ll see,” he said, keeping vague. “Now get off, if you’re going to sit in my lap here, I’m not getting frosting all over me.”

“You’re so *mean*,” Kokichi pouted, but complied, rolling off of Kaito and into the water.

“Well it’s bad enough having to walk home soaking wet and freezing after being out here for a few hours.” Not to mention the persistent smell of fish that hung around him even after a long, hot shower. “I don’t need to be all sticky as well.”

Kokichi pulled himself back into his place, freshly rinsed off. He wrapped an arm around Kaito’s neck, smirking as he brought their faces closer together. His other hand rested on Kaito’s cheek, and he could feel Kokichi’s breath on his lips.

“Well I know a way to keep you warm in the ocean, if that’s a problem.”

Kaito felt his cheeks warm, his heart skipping a beat at how suggestive Kokichi sounded there. It took a few seconds for him to remember the implication under his words, and he pushed Kokichi’s face away.

“Fucking stop that already. I’m not kissing you.”

Kokichi pouted again, although he didn’t seem too bothered by the rejection. “Aww, I’m so sad that you won’t let me turn you into a mermaid. I bet you’d make a really handsome one too. You’ll just lose a few memories in the process, but you’ve been human your  _whoooole_  life. It’s selfish if you don’t give the rest of us a turn!”

“You were already human once,” Kaito pointed out, remembering what Kokichi had told him. Supposedly, through a kiss a mermaid and a human could switch places, at the cost of the human’s memories and their former life. He couldn’t imagine why anyone would do that willingly, but if it were true then apparently Kokichi  _had_.

Not that Kokichi could recall it, anyway.

“Yeah I guess.” Kokichi shrugged, tracing his fingertips over Kaito’s chest. “I mean, being human must suck if I’m here now, so who cares! Even if the cake  _is_  really good.”

Kaito didn’t know how to respond to that. Although the merman brushed it off, he felt as if Kokichi wasn’t being completely honest with remaining as he was. He wrapped his arms around Kokichi’s waist, hugging him closer. His hand trailed over his tail, careful of the scales that could cut him if he let his guard down. Kokichi had told him once that it felt a little nice, although the sensation was dull and his tail wasn’t so sensitive as Kaito’s skin seemed to be in comparison.

The silence persisted for a few minutes, before Kokichi tilted his face up towards him with a pleading smile.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna kiss me? I bet I’m a really good kisser, and being a mermaid isn’t so bad, other than the long hours of boredom and isolation that come with it.”

Kaito rolled his eyes. “Man, you’re  _really_  selling me on this.”

“Buuuut I’ll come visit you every day! And maybe bring you some cake!” Kokichi leaned in, brushing his lips over Kaito’s shoulder. “And I’ll kiss you so hard you’ll literally forget everything about yourself, nee-heehee.”

“I don’t really know why I put up with you sometimes.”

“Because you loooove me!”

“Ugh, you’re being ridiculous.”

Kokichi’s eyes twinkled in the sun like purple-colored sea glass. “But you don’t deny it~. I bet you really  _do_  want to kiss me.”

“Shut up or I’m not going to bring you anything ever again,” he said, but it was an empty threat. “Anyway, I told you. I have things I want to get done before I die, and I gotta work hard and make it happen. I’m studying for the astronaut certification exam, and a buddy of a buddy of mine is gonna get me fake papers saying that I’m a college graduate so I can take it! My dreams are right within reach!”

The merman didn’t respond right away, his face slipping into a blank expression that Kaito couldn’t read. When he did speak again, his tone was neutral. “Why so soon? You can just go to college first, and  _then_  take the exam.”

“I can’t wait! I want to go to space as soon as possible!” The thought brought a huge grin to his face. “Man, I just can’t wait. I want to explore the universe and go farther places than any man has gone before! My name will be in history books, and I’ll blaze the way for others to come after me.”

Kokichi’s smile was small, almost strained. “I can’t believe Kaito is such a nerd,” he said with a tiny giggle.

“Hey, I am not!”

“You’re  _such_  a nerd,” Kokichi insisted, his smile growing. “Don’t forget me when you’re meeting aliens and bringing home space rocks.”

Even if his tone was light, Kokichi’s words put a damper on Kaito’s bolstering mood. Right, in his moment of excitement he completely forgot what that sort of thing would mean for his visits with Kokichi. When he went for training, he’d have even less chance to come to the beach. The weekly visits would become monthly, or even less. Only a few times a year he’d be able to come out.

“I’d still come visit whenever I can, you know. I’m not going to forget you.”

A beat passed, the silence more telling than anything Kokichi would ever say aloud. “Nee-heehee, of course you wouldn’t! There’s no way you could ever forget anyone as adorable and fun to hang around as me!”

And the conversation turned away from there, and they continued chatting for the next few hours as if their impending separation weren’t hanging over their heads like a blade ready to come down on them. All the while, Kaito couldn’t get Kokichi’s earlier words out of his head.

‘ _being a mermaid isn’t so bad, other than the long hours of boredom and isolation that come with it._ ’

A guilty desire bubbled up in Kaito’s chest, and he immediately felt sick for it. Yet, as ashamed as he was of it, he couldn’t deny that he wished that someone would one day soon come along who was willing to trade places with Kokichi. And he hated himself for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since writing this, I decided to write a multi-chap fic based around in. I believe I have one or two more drabbles that'll pop up here though.


	18. Oumota - Doing something together + Future/Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Where Kokichi sees the point of the prompts and makes his own purpose instead, and also probably crosses several lines in the process}**
> 
> _Subtitled: I'm sorry_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know how to make warnings for this without making it sound way worse than it is but... weird sex questions? Xenophilia mention? As a teasing joke, not as an actual kink though.

Kaito let out a wordless shriek, pressing his face into Kokichi’s back as he clung to him, much to the latter’s amusement. Normally he’d be offended at Kokichi finding mirth in his fear and suffering, but he was too frightened to even comment on it, shrinking away from the creature on screen.

“What the hell?! That thing is fucking  _creepy_!”

Kokichi reached back to give him a disingenuous pat on the head. “There, there, Kaito, it’s just special effects and robotics, nothing to be scared of,” he said, and Kaito could hear the playful smile in his voice. “Hey, it’s just like Kiibo! So you should pretend that he’s the vicious human-slaughtering alien from the movie!”

“Sh-shut up, stop making fun of me.”

“Me? Make fun of you? I would  _never_  do such a thing!”

Kaito wanted to smack him for that, but that would involve detaching his death-grip-of-comfort from around Kokichi’s shoulders, and with Aliens still playing on the TV, he didn’t want to risk an especially scary part interrupting his indignant whack.

When he didn’t answer his teasing however, Kokichi spoke up again, “Hey Kaito, would you ever fuck an alien?”

Kaito choked on his own spit.

“ _Excuse me_?” Yep his voice definitely reached new heights in pitch there.

“Ya know? Fuck? As in have sex with? Bang? Stick your dick inside one of their slimy alien orifices?” Kokichi elaborated, without shame or remorse for the way Kaito gagged at the imagery. “It’s not rocket science.”

“ _I know what you meant, holy shit Kokichi_.” He couldn’t seriously expect Kaito to answer a question like that.

“Well then  _would_  you? C’mon, this is the sort of thing you gotta think about if you’re going to space in the near future. Would you do the diddly-doo with an alien or not?”

Kaito forcibly extracted himself from Kokichi, giving him a look that was one part flabbergasted and several parts disgusted. “First off, I do  _not_  have to think about that. If and when I  _do_  meet aliens, it’ll be more about establishing connections with any intelligent colonies and–.”

“You should totes establish a connection between you and one of the aliens. In bed.” Kokichi’s eyes lit up. “Oh oh, wouldn’t it be awesome if you had a kid with one of them, and then you’d be the first inter-galactic-species family? You’d go down in history as the freak who was totally into gross, disgusting aliens, it’d be great!”

“I don’t even know where to start with how wrong that is.” The fact that biology didn’t work like that, or the fact that Kokichi made it sound incredibly gross right off the bat, or the fact that  _Kaito was already dating Kokichi and wouldn’t have sex with anyone including aliens anyway_.

“That’s prejudice, you know. Don’t aliens deserve to feel love too?”

“Alright! Movie night’s over!” Kaito stood from the couch. Done, he was done with this and with this conversation. He made for the door.

Kokichi hopped up, merciless as he pursued Kaito’s hasty retreat. “Aww, are you thinking about it now? Did I discover a deep dark secret of yours? Does the alien turn you on, Kaito? Don’t worry, I accept you no matter what freaky kinks you have or however many aliens you want to imbue with your baby-making seed!”

“I’m going to kick you to the fucking sun if you don’t stop.”


	19. Oumota - Spoiling each other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {A little needy}**
> 
> Sometimes even the tough heroic guys feel needy for some cuddle time.

Kokichi let out a surprised squeak when Kaito wrapped his arms around him suddenly, drawing him into his lap. Normally getting such a reaction would boast his ego, but today he felt off. Although he couldn’t explain it, he felt restless in a way that he didn’t know that exercise could solve, and a general neediness to hold and be close and closer to his boyfriend overwhelmed him.

He buried his face into Kokichi’s shoulder, relishing in the warmth and familiar scent of his soap. The building tension in his chest subsided somewhat.

“Wow, Kaito sure is lovey-dovey today!” Kokichi observed, his tone light and playful.

Kaito wasn’t in the mood for teasing today. His arms tightened around Kokichi’s waist. With his back pressed against Kaito’s chest, they couldn’t see each other’s expressions even if Kaito did pull his face from Kokichi’s shoulder. Despite that, his strange mood carried in his tone, as he muttered without bite, “Just shut up, Kokichi.”

And he did. It might’ve surprised Kaito, but while Kokichi teased and taunted until he got a rise out of him, he wasn’t  _cruel_ , and right now any idiot could probably tell that something was off about him.

So they sat in silence for a while, Kaito’s arms around Kokichi and his face in his shoulder. After a minute or two he moved, turning his head to the side to press a kiss against his neck. Kokichi hummed at that, and he reached up to pass his hand over Kaito’s hair.

“Hey, Kaito.” Kokichi waiting until he heard a noise of acknowledgement from him before continuing. “I love you, you know that, right?”

He spoke without a trace of dishonesty in his voice, and his words set off sparks throughout Kaito’s being. It was a simple statement, one which Kaito already knew to be true, but he felt giddiness creep up on him each time he heard it.

Suddenly he wished that Kokichi was turned around in his lap, so that he could kiss him for that. He settled for kissing his cheek instead.

“Yeah, I know. I love you too.”


	20. Oumasai - Dancing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {The only dancing here is from Kokichi avoiding his feelings}**
> 
> Kokichi shows up at Shuichi’s door at 3am, claiming to need help finding his cat. Since when did he have a cat? - Post-killing game VR AU as usual

“Geez Shuichi, about time you answered. I’ve been standing here for at  _least_  two hours now.” Everything in Kokichi’s voice and in the frown on his face suggested genuine hurt, despite how ridiculous his words were.

“Clearly that’s a lie.” Shuichi wondered if he’d just come here to bother him, or if there really was something he needed. At three in the morning. “Do you… want something?”

“Yeah, actually I’ve come to enlist the Ultimate Detective’s help in a very important matter. In fact, it’ll cause thousands of  _horrible_ deaths if this issue is not resolved, so you understand the gravity of the situation right?”

“…right. What is it?”

“This incredibly important problem that I need immediately resolved is of course none other than…” Kokichi took a deep breath, presumably pausing for dramatic effect. Shuichi couldn’t feel less tension in that moment even if he tried. He waited for Kokichi to finish, somewhat impatient.

“I need you to help me find my cat.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Well, out of all the nonsensical reasons Shuichi expected Kokichi to claim for why he  _had_  to come to Shuichi’s room at this early hour, he didn’t expect to hear  _that_  one in particular. His cat… Why would he need such a thing at this hour, when everyone was asleep? Moreover…

“You heard me, Shuichi! My cat is lost and I desperately need help finding it before my poor widdle baby gets hurt or something even worse!” Kokichi explained, turning his watery eyes onto him.

“I mean, I get why you’d be upset if you’d lost your cat but… since when did you have a cat?”

Did the facility even allow pets?

“I’ve  _always_  secretly had one! Geez, and I thought you were the ultimate detective, and you didn’t even know I had a cat.”

Shuichi sighed. It was too early in the morning for this. He opened his mouth, about to call him out on the obvious lies, but then he got a good look at him. Although Kokichi acted much the same as ever and there wasn’t anything strange about his expressions, there was a tightness in his mouth that Shuichi hadn’t noticed before, and dark bags under his eyes that looked sharp against his pale skin. He didn’t look like he was doing well at all.

Although he supposed that none of them really were, after what they’d gone through.

So instead he closed his mouth and swallowed back the accusations he’d been about to fling. He nodded, taking a second to find his voice again.

“Sure, I’ll help you. Let’s go look for your cat.”


	21. Saioumota - Cooking/Baking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Things get spicy, like the soup. The soup gets real spicy.}**
> 
> College au, where Shuichi is studying for an exam so Kaito and Kokichi decide to help out and make dinner for the night. Things go about as well as expected.

“You’re doing it completely fucking wrong.”

“No I’m not! I’m just taking creative liberties with the recipe–it’s  _art_ , Kaito!”

“You’re butchering our dinner with your creative bullshit,” Kaito snapped, and attempted to wrench the spices from Kokichi’s hands. “Give those to me, I’ll do it!”

Kokichi turned his back on him, holding the bottles out as far as he could get them. Despite his shorter arms, he had no problems evading Kaito as he grasped for the containers. After a few moments of struggle, Kokichi slipped out from underneath Kaito’s arm, causing him to stumble and nearly fall from the sudden lack of support beneath him.

“No way! You suck at cooking, I’m gonna do this one!” Kokichi said once he’d gotten away.

Kaito crossed his arms, glaring. “I’m telling ya, you’re putting way too much shit in. Not all of us have the tasting ability of a corpse.”

“Nuh-uh, I taste fine! You’re just mean!”

“ _You’re_  just full of shit, I bet you could eat a ghost pepper without even batting an eye.”

Kokichi spun back to the bowl, popping the cap open on one of the bottles in his hand to add a few more dashes of one of the spices. “You know what I’m hearing? That you’re just a big baby and can’t handle spicy.”

“I can too handle spicy things, fuck off!”

“Oh yeah?” With a wicked grin, Kokichi held a ladle full of soup up in Kaito’s direction. “Prove it.”

“ _Fine_!” With a growl, Kaito lunged forward, slurping the soup from the ladle without even a second of hesitation.

He regretted it immediately.

Kaito gagged, spitting his mouthful out onto the floor. He scrubbed the back of his fist over his mouth, lips stinging and mouth on fire. Not only was the soup ridiculously spicy, but it tasted  _terrible_  as well. It was nothing like the flavor profile that’d been described in the recipe, as savory with a good hint of spices. Instead, it tasted like the acid had been siphoned from his stomach and added to the broth and the ‘hint’ of spice was in the form of a speeding train crashing straight into his mouth.

And Kokichi had the audacity to laugh at him. He covered his mouth with a hand, doubling over as he cackled at Kaito’s reaction. Kaito bristled, waving a clenched fist at him.

“Shut up! It’s not funny!”

“Au contraire,” Kokichi said, continuing to shamelessly laugh at his suffering. “Watching you try that soup is the funniest thing I’ve seen all day.”

“I’m gonna punch that smile right off your face.”

“Um…”

Before Kokichi could respond or Kaito could make good on his threat, a voice from the entrance to the kitchen interrupted him. Both boys jumped, glancing over at Shuichi with matching sheepish expressions. Shuichi looked at them with concern, a notebook hugged to his chest and his phone in hand.

“…are you two alright?”

“Just fine, my beloved Shuichi!” Kokichi piped up first with an innocent smile, hiding the ladle behind his back as if it were the weapon of a violent crime, and he hadn’t just assaulted Kaito with his extremely spiced-up soup. “Just making dinner for tonight!”

“Yeah and it tastes like shit,” Kaito added, shooting Kokichi a dark glare. His mouth still burned like hell.

“Well you suck at cooking anyway!”

Shuichi cleared his throat, bringing their attention back to him. “If you give me a minute to finish this chapter, I can cook–.”

“No!”

Both Kaito and Kokichi protested in unison. No matter their differences of opinion on cooking, they agreed that they wouldn’t make Shuichi cook that night. Not when he had an important exam the next day. Kaito didn’t know about Kokichi, but he felt guilty enough that their bickering had pulled Shuichi away from his studying just to check on them, and he’d rather Shuichi get back to his work as soon as possible.

“You should keep studying for your test, dude. I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

“Yeah! Me n’ Kaito will definitely make something that’s not a total disaster, despite his shitty skills!”

“ _Hey_ –!” Kaito began, rounding on Kokichi.

“Well, uh…” Shuichi rushed to speak again, raising his hands as if to placate them. He nodded at the phone in his hand. “Why don’t we just order something, then?”

Kaito and Kokichi looked at his phone, and then at each other, each with an unreadable expression on their face. After a moment, they nodded in agreement, and looked back to Shuichi.

“Yeah, sounds good…”

“I want chocolate cake, too!”

As they decided on what to get, and Shuichi called in their order, Kaito thought that they should’ve done that to begin with, instead of make a disaster of the kitchen and end up ordering in anyway. He grimaced thinking about the amount of cleaning they’d have to do before the night ended. That’d be a problem for later though, he decided.

For now, though, he was just eager to get some food in him that didn’t taste like a condensed star mixed with dirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day I'll finish posting all these.


	22. Oumota - In Battle, side-by-side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {High stakes of life and death, but it’s actually just a lot of water balloons}**
> 
> Well it’s a water balloon battle, and they’re standing next to each other, so it probably counts.

Kaito had been running, full sprint when he nearly stepped right on someone’s prone form in the grass. He swore, doing a wild flailing dance of limbs to avoid stepping on them, nearly tripping over them in the process. The water balloon he had slipped out of his grass, popping next to the person lying right in his path.

“I–Kokichi, what the hell are you doing?”

“Go on without me, Kaito, I’m a  _goner_!” Kokichi groaned in the most pitiful, mournful tone he’d ever heard him use before. Then he reached out and grabbed Kaito’s ankle, making him jump. “Wait, no, before you go. Please put me out of my misery.”

“Will you just get up? Someone’s gonna step on you if you’re just lying there.”

“You’re really insensitive, aren’tcha? I’m here dying and you just tell me to walk it off. That’s rude y’know.” Despite his lecturing, a playful smile lit up upon his face and he sprang up, not a bit of weakness obvious in how he stood.

Kaito rolled his eyes. Clearly Kokichi was fine, just dramatic. “Yeah sure, whatever. What happened to you anyway? Why were you lying in the grass?”

His gaze dropped to Kokichi’s feet, checking the way he stood for any injuries that might not have been obvious on first glance. No swelling, no cuts, no twisted ankles… Kaito hated that he really did worry for Kokichi when it was probably all a lie, anyway.

“Aww Kaito, you really  _do_  care about me,” Kokichi teased him, although the way he grinned told Kaito that he really was pleased with his worry. He was about to grumble irritably and tell him to shove it when Kokichi continued without prompting. “Well you see, Miu had me cornered and she smashed me right over the head with a balloon while I was alone and defenseless! The injury to my pride and the chills on my skin were insurmountable.”

Why did Kaito even bother?

“Really, that’s it?”

“‘That’s  _it_ ’?! It’s Miu! Do you know what sort of horrible unmentionable fluids she could’ve put in there? I could be poisoned right now as we speak!”

Kaito patted his shoulder, mostly to quell the distraught act Kokichi was putting up right now. “Hey, I think you’re fine. Anyway, I don’t think Miu helped with any of the balloons. I don’t think she would’ve had time to prepare tampered water balloons by the time we found out about the fight today…”

None of them had even known the plans for the day until Kaede lugged out buckets and buckets filled with water balloons, prepared by her and several of their classmates. A water balloon fight, with additional caches of balloons hidden all over the place. It was elaborate, honestly, and Kaito didn’t know how they’d managed to sneak around the rest of them.

“You don’t know! Any of these things can be tampered with. Maybe we’ll all be dead before the end of the hour.” Kokichi appeared horrified at the prospect, an expression that Kaito felt  _sure_ was fake.

“I highly doubt it.”

“Oh! I’ve got an idea! You should team up with me, and we’ll take down all the others and you can keep me safe from the others as my meat shield!” Kokichi grinned.

“You’re making this sound so appealing,” he deadpanned, but sighed. “Fine, do whatever you want, but don’t go laying on the ground again, got it?”

Kokichi would probably tag along no matter what he said anyway. Best to just go along with it and make things easier on him.

“Oh, I also have another story, after the Miu one, so you should be careful.” Kokichi’s expression grew serious. “I experienced a  _betrayal_  today.”

Did he want to know? Probably not. Would he find out anyway? Probably. And so, sighing, he raised a brow. “What about it?”

A flash of movement startled him. Quick as lightning, Kokichi’s hand flew up, and a water balloon that he hadn’t even  _seen_  in it smashed right into the center of Kaito’s face. He yelped, stumbling back and rubbing the water that suddenly burst right in his eyes. By the time he could see again, Kokichi had already turned and ran, throwing a mischievous grin at him over his shoulder.

“ _I_ was the one doing the betraying today! Nee-heehee!”

“ _You_! Get back here you asshole!”

Slipping in the wet grass, Kaito took off after the fleeing boy ahead of him. He was going to shake him until he regretted messing around with Kaito fucking Momota here.


	23. Saimota - Bicycle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Kaito can’t ride a fucking bike}**

“You want to  _bike_  there?”

“Yes…?” Shuichi couldn’t fathom the reason for such… surprise? Offense? He wasn’t sure what it was, but he didn’t understand why Kaito seemed so taken aback by the idea. “I thought it’d be a fun way to get over there, since it’s a little too far to walk, and the weather has been so nice recently.”

Was it so absurd a suggestion? Kaito looked on edge, his shoulders tense, and although he shook his head and tried to cover it with his usual smile, there was a tightness in his lips and a look in his eyes that seemed…

Anxious?

“Well… yeah I guess it is… but you know I prefer running! Pumping your legs, getting your heart going and blood rushing, feeling the wind rush through your hair with the sheer speed of your own feet–it’s the best! We could totally do that instead.”

Shuichi tilted his head. “I… suppose…” None of what Kaito said sounded like something that could only be had with running rather than riding a bike instead. “But like I said, it’s too far…”

“It is with that attitude! Nothing is too far when you put your mind to it!” Kaito burst out before Shuichi even finished speaking, bringing his fists together with a light smack.

“But it is, Kaito.” Geez, he loved him dearly, yet the assertion that they could just walk–or in this case, run–all the way there was ridiculous. His legs felt ready to drop off at the mere idea of it. “Why are you so adamant against riding bikes there?”

“I’m not, it’s just… you know. I would rather run.” Kaito shrugged, turning to the side. “Nothing wrong with that, right?”

Shuichi didn’t answer right away, staring at him with an analytical eye. Although Kaito said all that, it appeared that there was something he didn’t say. Even a busybody like Kaito couldn’t seriously think of running that sort of distance, and when Shuichi thought of it, there was a rather simple possibility that would explain it easily.

“Kaito,” he began, raising a hand to his chin, “do you not know how to ride a bike?”

A beat passed. Then two, three more.

Kaito visibly swallowed.

“Don’t laugh, ok?”

Ah. Despite the request, the urge to chuckle bubbled up in his chest, and he held back until it died away. He didn’t want to laugh  _at_  Kaito, but at the idea that he had to hide something like that from Shuichi. As if he’d care whether or not Kaito knew how to ride a bike.

“Kaito, lots of people don’t know how to ride bikes. It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he said.

“I’m not ashamed! I just don’t like to talk about it.”

Shuichi nodded, not believing that for a second yet unwilling to call him out on it. “Right, but it’s fine. We can get there another way, we don’t have to bike,” he said.

Then, after a short thought, he added with surprising assertiveness for himself, “But we’re  _not_  running all the way there.”

Kaito laughed at that, and some of the tension disappeared from his shoulders. “Alright, fine, you got it, man.”


	24. Oumota - Music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {A song so pretty you want to die, and a face so sweet you want to drown}**
> 
> More Mermaid au, taking place before chapter 17's

“So, can you sing?”

Kokichi opened one eye to look at him. Before that he’d looked so peaceful, his head resting on his arms, laying out on the sun-warmed rock with his tail absently swirling around in the water. For a second, Kaito had almost believed him to be sleeping, and he almost felt bad for disturbing him. Almost.

After all, Kokichi could sleep any time while Kaito wasn’t there, he reasoned. His curiosity had gotten the better of him.

After a moment, Kokichi gave a sly smile. “That’s kinda a stupid question. Anybody can sing, Kaito, it’s super easy, actually.”

“Shut up, you know that’s not what I meant.” Kaito rolled his eyes. “I meant can you sing well.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Nothing could ever be easy with Kokichi. Groaning, Kaito leaned back against the rock, staring up at the clear skies above. “Fine, whatever. You don’t gotta answer if you don’t want to, I was just wondering,” he grumbled.

His disinterest affected Kokichi, as he found it usually did. Kokichi loved to mess with him and get a reaction, but once that failed he either grew pouty and distant or else a little more compliant with Kaito’s questions. Fortunately today the latter seemed to be the case as Kokichi raised his head from his arms, scooting over closer to Kaito.

“Well since you’re so  _desperate_  to know…” Kokichi trailed off into a pause for effect, but when Kaito didn’t take the bait he continued. “I have the voice of an angel, actually. If I sang for you, you’d throw yourself into the ocean and drown just to please me. You’d kiss me without a second thought, and take on this curse for yourself just to free me of it. That’s just how good my singing is.”

Without missing a beat, Kaito said, “I bet it sounds like shit.”

“Huh?! That’s so mean!” Kokichi’s eyes grew big and watery, although he didn’t have any actual ability to cry. He certainly looked like he would, though, and Kaito nearly felt bad for it. “I’m trying to protect you from the power of a Siren’s Voice because I love you so much, and you just insult my efforts! Kaito is soooo meeean!”

Kaito averted his gaze at the mention of ‘love’, feeling the heat crawl into his cheeks. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he didn’t want to let it get to him. “I thought that mermaids couldn’t feel love,” he accused, remembering a previous conversation they’d had.

If they could feel love, after all, then it’d make the kiss that exchanged their lives that much more difficult to have, right?

Either way, his words made Kokichi shrug. Any hint of tears, false or otherwise, disappeared from his eyes, and he laid his head back down in his arms. Eyes closed, he waited a few moments before he responded.

“I dunno, maybe that was a lie. Maybe we can feel love. Or maybe I’m just trying to make you think that so you’ll let me kiss you. Who knows?” Kokichi smiled brightly, but to Kaito’s eyes there was a bit of bitterness to his grin. “I bet Kaito would be really nice to kiss, though.”

Or perhaps he was just spending too much time out in the sun.

He swallowed, and looked back up at the sky, wondering what it  _would_  be like to kiss the merman, or if his singing really was as spellbinding as he claimed it was. Kaito kept those thoughts to himself, however, with the reminder that he’d never be able to kiss Kokichi anyway, whether he was capable of feeling love or not, and he doubted that he’d ever get the merman to sing for him anyway.

With a sigh, he muttered, “I wish you wouldn’t mess around with me so much.”

And without opening his eyes and with a humorless giggle, Kokichi replied, “But that’s why you love me so much, right?”

Kaito didn’t respond, and let the sounds of the wind and the waves swallow up their conversation.


	25. Irumatsu - Trying to seduce each other (surprise?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Tfw you’re really gay and your girlfriend is also really gay}**
> 
> Miu tries to seduce Kaede. Kaede is confused, but she gets the picture eventually, and returns it in her own way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some sexual content below. As you can deduce from the prompt.
> 
> I post 10000 more drabbles on my tumblr: aroseandapen, and I don't think I'll ever manage to cross-post them all onto here.

“Hey! Hey babe, look over here!”

Kaede glanced up from her phone. Across the table from her, Miu had been working at some new invention that’d popped into her head. While she’d explained it to Kaede some, she didn’t understand half of what had come out of her girlfriend’s mouth, but seeing Miu so elated still delighted her.

She smiled, curious. Part of her was glad that Miu neglected to use one of the strange nicknames she was so fond of using. “Yes? What’s up?”

Once she had Kaede’s full attention, Miu leaned her elbows on the table. She made a deliberate show of licking her lips, the scissors in her hand held aloft and a lecherous grin on her face. The sight embarrassed Kaede somewhat, and she resisted the urge to shyly avert her gaze. This was just how Miu was, she told herself as the warmth tingled her cheeks.

Miu waved the scissors as she spoke, her voice low and breathy. “You know what I wanna do t’you right now, Kae-babe?” she asked, snipping the scissors at her with a wink.

Kaede waited for Miu to continue. When she didn’t, her smile took on a touch of bemusement; she tilted her head. “What do you want to do?” she asked patiently, expecting some silly joke to fluster her.

Yet Miu said nothing, but she snipped the scissors even harder, as if to emphasize something.

She didn’t understand, but tried to look interested anyway.

“Ah, I see!” she said, even though she had no clue what Miu was trying to get at. “That sounds nice!”

“Ehh, ‘ _nice’_??!” Miu’s demeanor changed instantly, and she deflated with a pitiful look on her face. “You don’t get it at all, do you? You dumbass, don’t make me spell it out for you!”

Kaede frowned, a twinge of annoyance at the insult. “Hey, I’m not! I’m sorry I don’t get what you’re trying to say when you’re not saying anything at all.”

“B-but… how can you  _not_  get it? I’m trying to be hot, and just last night we…” As Miu spoke, her face progressively got redder, much to Kaede’s confusion. In the end her apparent embarrassment popped, and she hunched over her work. “F-forget it! I’ve got too much important work to apply my genius to so! You just keep being c-cute and dumb over there!”

And as Kaede watched, Miu busied herself again. Her gaze flickered to the scissors now set on the table. Last night? What did that have to do with…?

Then her mind went back to the time they’d spent together. Little kisses snuck in between scenes in the movie they were watching, hands tracing over each other’s legs, over the curve of their thighs, moving higher, inward…

“ _Ah_.” The exclamation slipped out with a little gasp. She covered her mouth with a hand, feeling her cheeks burn with a blush that overtook her face.

_Miu_. No wonder she was so embarrassed now, since the implications had completely flown over Kaede’s head.

Biting her lip, Kaede set her phone on the table, leaving her chair to walk around to Miu’s side. Her girlfriend didn’t even glance up, although the way her shoulders stiffened told her that she was well aware of Kaede’s presence at her side. Kaede moved behind her, slipping her arms around her shoulders and resting her cheek against Miu’s hair.

“Mm, sweetheart?” she murmured, and Miu squeaked.

“Y-yeah? What is it, what do you want?”

“Hm? Well…” Kaede took a minute to answer. She slid a hand down along her shoulder, until she could take Miu’s hand in hers, and brought it to her lips. She kissed the inside of Miu’s wrist. Kaede thought that she could hear a breathy moan from her girlfriend at such a simple, loving action.

A smile played across her lips. She kissed her way up Miu’s arm, until she was pressing her lips against the sensitive skin of Miu’s neck, drawing out little noises of both embarrassment and pleasure from her girlfriend.

“What I want is you, of course.”

“ _Hah_ …” Miu’s face resembled a cherry tomato with how hard she blushed. She turned her face away, simultaneously giving Kaede more room to kiss at her neck. “O-of course you want… a gorgeous, busty goddess like me you… y-you hopeless…”

Whatever else she might’ve said was lost with a whine once Kaede opened her mouth, sucking on her neck.

Inwardly Kaede smiled, pleased with how easily Miu unraveled under her ministrations. For all her lewd jokes and her vulgarities, Miu still flustered and moaned whenever Kaede took the lead, always visibly embarrassed by her own reactions.

And Kaede loved it very much.


	26. Saimota - Interacting with family members

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Meeting the (grand)parents}**
> 
> Shuichi meets Kaito’s grandparents. Also mention of the hc where Shuichi is trans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I post 10000 more drabbles on my tumblr: aroseandapen, and I don't think I'll ever manage to cross-post them all onto here.

“Man, it feels like I haven’t been back here in forever.” With the hand not currently grasping Shuichi’s like a vice, Kaito pointed to the house at the end of the block. “That one’s my grandparents’ place. I don’t think they’ve moved at all since I was a little kid.”

“Being able to grow up in one place sounds like it’d be nice,” Shuichi said, hoping that his tone didn’t come off as envious or else as anything other than genuine. “Did you have a lot of other kids who lived near you?”

“Hell yeah! And I was the king of them all! I ran this neighborhood,” Kaito boasted, grinning widely and planting his fist on his hip. “Well, I mean I guess not a  _lot_  of kids lived here. Mostly older people and shit, but you’d get kids visiting a lot, and I made friends with most of them y’know. It was pretty nice, even though I didn’t keep up with any of them once I started highschool.”

“That’s too bad.”

Kaito shrugged off Shuichi’s lamenting. “I guess but you know? I’ve got plenty other people to hang out with now–and I met you, so… it’s hard to be sad about it.”

He squeezed his hand, and Shuichi felt warmth creep into his cheeks, glancing away. Shuichi returned the squeeze, and the two fell into a comfortable silence while they walked toward Kaito’s childhood home. As they approached, Kaito’s grip seemed to tighten, to the point where it almost grew painful. Shuichi glanced up, seeing the subtle tightness in Kaito’s jaw and tension in his shoulders. He cleared his throat, feeling the slight jump of Kaito’s hand in his.

“Are you ok?” he asked. “You seem sort of anxious.”

“Anxious? Me? Hell no, I’m not anxious at all, I’m just pumping myself up to see my grandparents!” Kaito grinned at him, but it seemed forced. After a moment it dropped, however, and he averted his gaze. “I mean… I guess I’m sort of nervous. About them meeting you…”

Shuichi’s heart faltered. He swallowed, and asked, “Didn’t you say that they knew you’re into guys?”

And he’d thought that Kaito had told them a long time ago that they were dating, but now he worried that he’d misremembered that conversation.

“Yeah! Of course they know, and they’re super cool about it,” he said, and as if he read Shuichi’s mind he added, “and they know I’m dating you, too, and they’re real excited to meet you!”

“Uh-huh…” Shuichi wasn’t sure how to respond. That all sounded positive, and didn’t explain the source of Kaito’s worry. Another thought occurred to him, and he felt a bit sick that it might be the case, but he forced himself to ask anyway. “And they know that I’m… you know?”

He lost the nerve to explicitly state it. Not outside like they were, even if no one was around. While by now most of the people close to him knew that he was trans, Shuichi hadn’t quite worked up the confidence to say it in a relatively public place like this.

And if they knew that he was and they had a problem with it, Shuichi wasn’t sure that he’d have the nerve to even face them.

“Yeah, they know. You told me that I could tell them, remember?” Now it was Kaito who looked uncertain. “So I mentioned it to them once when I was talking to them on the phone. Oh! Shit, no that’s not what I’m worried about at all, ok? They’re totally cool with that too, so you don’t gotta worry about that at all.”

Shuichi didn’t know he tensed his muscles until they relaxed in his relief. Yet… that still didn’t explain Kaito’s nervousness. He maintained his questioning gaze until Kaito finally told him, his expression screaming reluctance the entire time.

“Ok… so it’s really stupid but…” Kaito scratched the back of his head, not looking at Shuichi. A trace of pink dusted his cheeks. “I’ve never really introduced them to like. A serious boyfriend of mine before. Or a serious anything, actually. So I’m just really nervous about them liking you. I  _really_  want them to like you.”

A shy smile worked its way onto his face and dispelled the remainder of his anxiety. Although he’d been nervous about Kaito’s grandparents liking him as well, hearing that Kaito was more so than he was somehow lessened the extent of his own nerves.

“It’s not stupid. I’m nervous about it too,” he admitted. “But I’m also excited to meet them. From what you’ve told me, they sound like great people.”

“They are! They’re awesome, best grandparents in the entire universe guaranteed!” Kaito visibly brightened. “Yeah, I guess I’m excited for them to meet you, too. I hope they’ll like you and that you’ll like  _them_.”

“I’m positive I will.”

——-

The moment Shuichi stepped inside the house, he felt welcomed. A pleasant smell that he couldn’t quite identify filled the air, and the atmosphere felt cozy and warm and clean as he and Kaito moved further into it, ushered in by an old man with a kind face and whose entire demeanor was just as warm and welcoming as the house he lived in.

Kaito introduced Shuichi to the man, his grandfather as Shuichi surmised, and as they entered the other room he introduced him to his grandmother, who stood from the little rocker. For some reason, he’d been expecting a short couple, compacted by life and age, but they weren’t much shorter than Kaito himself.

It made sense; he supposed that Kaito’s height had to come from somewhere.

“My, you’re a much more handsome young man than I expected. The pictures Kaito sent to us don’t do you justice,” his grandmother said, grasping one of Shuichi’s hands in both of her own. The grip was firm, but her wrinkled skin was soft and well-moisturized.

Shuichi flustered at the compliment. “Thank… thank you very much.”

“So you’re a detective? That’s real impressive at your age, I remember back when I was a young boy…”

From there the conversation flowed naturally, and it didn’t take long for Shuichi to get comfortable in the presence of Kaito’s grandparents. Their worries from earlier seemed silly now. He found it easy to get along with them. They had stories from when they were young and stories from when Kaito was a child that made Kaito bluster in embarrassment and Shuichi laugh, and they seemed equally interested in anything that Shuichi had to say about himself (and about his experience with Kaito, of course).

Until towards the end of their visit, when his grandfather said with a sly smile and nod, “I know it’s too early to think about right now, but I want you to know that if the two of you ever do decide to get married, I’d be proud to have a grandson like you in the family.”

As his grandmother seconded the sentiment, Kaito and Shuichi gave each other a quick glance, full matching blushes overtaking both their faces. Shuichi’s heart flipped in his chest, his stomach feeling like he’d swallowed a bunch of butterflies as he looked back to the old couple. Marriage hadn’t been something he’d thought about before, not yet, but thinking about being married to Kaito one day.

He tried hard to tamp down the heat in his cheeks, and gave the most grateful smile that he could manage.

“Thank you so much, that means a lot to me,” Shuichi said, and he meant it too.

Although he’d been right–it was way too early for something like that. Imagining it was fun, though, and he liked the idea that they’d reach the altar someday. The two of them, together.


	27. Irumatsu - Falling in love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Socks can make anyone fall in love, try it at home}**

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Kaede said, staring down at the little sheet of paper in her hand.

Shuichi gave her a sympathetic smile. “Well, maybe it’ll be something interesting? You might have fun?”

“Come on, this is  _Miu_  we’re talking about? Fun? Maybe for her, it’ll probably be something super embarrassing for me like… like… I don’t even know what.”

As Kaede spoke, she waved the paper in Shuichi’s direction, as if to emphasize her point. Miu had slipped it under her door that morning, with the handwritten message, “Come to my room after dinner tonight and I’ll show you something that’ll rock your fucking WORLD!!” accompanied with doodled hearts and stars all over it. Despite her foreboding, Kaede couldn’t deny that the note itself was rather cute. She mouthed the words, and frowned hard.

“Whatever it is, it  _can’t_  be good.”

“I guess you don’t have to go if you don’t want to, if you’re so worried?” Ever patient to her venting, Shuichi maintained his worried expression.

Kaede sighed. “…no. I guess I should at least check this out.”

Even if the idea of being embarrassed in some way by Miu warmed her cheeks and made her stomach flutter nervously. And going to her  _room_. Even if they were both girls… Kaede resisted the urge to hide her face in her hands; such a thing just seemed a bit too intimate for a first time.

A first time hanging out! Of course.

“Well… good luck with Miu then. I hope it goes well.”

“Thanks, Shuichi.” She was being ridiculous about this. So nervous that her heart was pounding for no reason. “I hope it does too.”

——————–

Oddly enough, Miu didn’t show up to dinner that night. While a part of her was glad for it, Kaede was disappointed that she couldn’t have seen the other girl before their meetup time. Although she didn’t know how she could’ve faced her all evening with the nervous flips her heart did in her chest, she kind of wanted the opportunity to glean  _some_  hint of what Miu had planned for her afterward.

Maybe that was part of Miu’s plan as well, to  _not_  let Kaede have even that much. For… a surprise? Her humiliating downfall? Geez, she didn’t know, but soon enough she’d find out.

(Did Miu even eat? She better have, Kaede didn’t approve the idea of her skipping meals for  _any_  reason. Eating was important. If she asked and found out that Miu didn’t have dinner on her own, Kaede would give her a firm talking to.)

Kaede glanced down at the note once more as she stood in front of Miu’s door. Her handwriting was surprisingly cute for the sort of vulgarities that she spewed every day. But at that point she realized that she was only stalling the inevitable, and taking a deep breath she knocked on the door.

The very second she stopped, the door flew open away from her with such force that Kaede jumped in surprise. She blinked, eyes wide as she took a step back away from the entrance, and from the girl standing on the inside.

“About fuckin’ time you showed up! I’ve been waiting all day for you to get your slow ass over here.”

Miu had her hair tied back into a ponytail, and with the absence of her barbed-wire chokers Kaede saw more of her pretty, slender neck than she’d ever seen before. She wasn’t even properly dressed, wearing nothing but a huge shirt that went straight down to mid-thigh. Although not exposed, somehow the way the plain grey shirt hung over her breasts drew Kaede’s eyes to them even more.

She was just… so casually cute and sexy in a way that Kaede wasn’t used to seeing. If she liked girls, then Miu would definitely be someone she was attracted to.

Embarrassed by her own thoughts, Kaede forced her gaze up to Miu’s face.

“Huh? What do you mean all day? You just gave me the note this morning and told me to come  _after dinner_!” she protested, puffing out her cheeks in indignation.

“Hah? And you weren’t even a  _little bit_  curious to see what this gorgeous genius had to show you? If I were you I would’ve come running over the second I got the note, screw waiting around!”

Kaede resisted the urge to sigh. Yep, she could already tell that this exchange was going to be exhausting.

Rather than continue to argue with her over the proper etiquette after getting a note for a predetermined meeting time, Kaede prompted her to get on with it with, “Well? What did you have to show me?”

“Getting straight to the point, huh? That’s probably the thing I like most about you, no bullshit!” Miu nodded to herself, and then turned and walked further into her room.

It left Kaede standing awkwardly at the door, not sure whether she should wait or enter the room. After a moment of contemplation, she decided on going on. Miu could kick her out later if she wanted. She shuffled inside, growing nervous as she did, and shut the door behind her.

Now it was just Miu and Kaede. Alone. In her room, with Miu dressed in nothing but a big shirt, as far as Kaede could tell.

As Miu dug through one of her drawers, Kaede asked, “Why aren’t you dressed?” It seemed a bit too early to have changed into nightclothes already.

Miu paused, shooting her a strange look. “What do you mean? I got dressed specifically for you to come over? What? You think I wear this shit to bed?”

“So… do you, um…”  _Don’t think about it, don’t think about it_. “…sleep, ah… naked?”

That just seemed to be the logical conclusion to draw from that.

“Uh, duh- _doi_. It’s the only fuckin way to sleep! What? Don’t you?” Miu answered, with a barking laugh that brought a blush to Kaede’s cheeks.

“No! Of course I don’t! That’s… indecent…” she said, averting her eyes.

“The only thing ‘indecent’ is covering up these beautiful girls!” Miu said, gesturing to her own chest. Kaede refused to look, and after a moment Miu went back to her search. “Anyway, I’ve got this for you… here!”

Out from the drawer she produced a small device, a little black box with a knob and a button on it. She held it out to Kaede, who took it with growing apprehension. Examining it, Kaede couldn’t guess at what its use might be, but a port on the top suggested that its power came from charging it. Not that it helped her any.

“What is it?”

“An invention that will fucking blow your  _socks_  off!” Miu laughed, hands on her hips. She looked… proud of herself. “It’s already tuned, so all you gotta do is press the button there. I know, real fuckin easy, I’m sure you can figure that out.”

Kaede hesitated. “But… what does it do?”

“Press it and find out! Come on, don’t be a pussy.”

Oh geez. Kaede was sure that this would turn out horribly, but still her curiosity got the better of her. Bracing herself, she took a steadying breath before she pressed the button on the device.

Immediately, her feet began to tingle. Although the sensation was neither pleasant nor painful, the sudden strangeness of it caused her to yelp, dropping the device to the floor. She looked down at her feet, and she saw harmless sparks of light flying through her shoes.

It all lasted only a second, however, and in the next moment everything stopped. Her feet were bare inside her shoes, and her socks in a neat pile on the ground next to her feet.

Kaede could only blink, bewildered by what just happened.

As if Kaede hadn’t been stunned into silence, Miu bent to pick the device up off the floor. “Geez, good thing I made this thing unbreakable, or you could’ve just ruined the thing I’ve been working all day on for you! That’s inconsiderate as hell of you.”

“You… made an invention that literally knocked my socks off…”

“Fuckin  _duh_. I told you that’s what it did!”

Miu literally made a device capable of teleportation, and she used it to remove the socks Kaede wore from her own feet. For a stupid pun.

Kaede couldn’t help herself. She burst into laughter.

“I can’t believe you…! Oh my gosh, Miu you’re  _amazing_!” She pressed her hand over her mouth, feeling the butterflies flutter hard in her stomach. “This is incredible, I can’t believe this! You’re so adorable.”

Now it was Miu’s cheeks to redden and for her to glance away sharply, embarrassed by the compliments. “W-well yeah, of course. I’m a genius, y’know.”

Kaede nodded. Now that she knew that the invention had nothing to do with embarrassing her, she could easily agree to that. A part of her wanted to reach out and hug Miu, but the thought of embracing the other while she was only half-dressed flustered Kaede too much.

“You’re incredible, thanks for showing me this.”

Needless to say, Kaede was beginning to realize that Miu was full of surprises. She guessed that she didn’t really know the Ultimate Inventor so well after all.

She’d quite like to, though.


	28. Oumasai - Doing something ridiculous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {Drink water, kids}**
> 
> Kokichi drags Shuichi out for a hike on a hot day

Shuichi wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. What started out as a warm clear day had turned into an unbearable heat, like the world had become a furnace baking him alive. All the walking they’d done didn’t help, and Shuichi hoped that whatever Kokichi wanted to show him was close. Otherwise, he’d end up dying in the middle of nowhere, with trees pressing in on all sides and the sounds of birds and insects a distant whine in his ears.

“It’s so hot, Shuichi,” Kokichi whined, echoing his thoughts. “Why would you want to go hiking on a day like this?”

“It was your suggestion,” Shuichi reminded him, giving Kokichi a sideways glance. Exertion had flushed his normally pale features, damp strands of hair sticking to his forehead and neck. Shuichi imagined that he didn’t look much better.

“Huh? I guess you’re right. The heat must be messing with my brain. I might die out here from heat stroke!”

Not a totally invalid concern, but the way Kokichi said it made Shuichi want to roll his eyes.

“Oh I know!” Kokichi’s eyes lit up. “You should carry me the rest of the way.”

“No.”

“Whaaaat? How could you say ‘no’ without even thinking about it? You’re so mean, don’t you care about my wellbeing? I could die, and you don’t want to carry me just a teensy bit farther,” he whined, false tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.

“Here.” Shuichi did roll his eyes this time and held out his water bottle. “If it’s not much farther, then we can take a water break and finish getting there after.”

Kokichi pouted, but he took the bottle from him. “ _Fine_ , I  _guess_.” Then he brightened, suddenly forging ahead with newfound energy. Even if he’d been faking before, Shuichi didn’t know where he got it from. “Here! It’s pretty much just ahead!”

Without drinking from the bottle, he skipped on ahead, leaving Shuichi to follow along after him, shaking the weariness from his limbs. Part of him wished that Kokichi agreed to stop. He wouldn’t have minded the break, and he was a bit annoyed at the fact that Kokichi had taken his water, not even drinking from it.

Still, if they truly didn’t have much farther to go, he supposed pushing through the last bit of their hike would be work it.

Yet even thought Kokichi had said it was close by, Shuichi still felt mild surprise when the trees suddenly fell away, and he stepped out into a clearing. He blinked, pausing as he looked at the scene before him, a drastic change from what seemed an endless sea of trees all around them. A stream wound along across their path, lapping against rocks and looking quite refreshing after the heat of their trek. Reeds lined the bank, and the trees that did grow nearest the stream cast a cooling shadow over it.

Kokichi stood in the shade, perched on top of a sizable rock and looking down at Shuichi with a proud grin, hands on his hips. For some reason, Shuichi noticed, he’d taken off his shoes and left them beside the rock, bare toes curling around its top for balance.

“See? I told you we didn’t have much farther to go!” he chirped, looking pleased with himself.

Shuichi didn’t answer right away, soaking in the sight before him. After a minute, he nodded, eyes returning to Kokichi. “It’s really pretty,” he said.

As simple a response as it was, Kokichi beamed. With a delighted laugh, he jumped from the rock, landing with a shallow splash in the stream. Spinning about, he held out his hand to Shuichi and beckoned.

“Shuichi! Come in! Let’s play, and have some good wet  _fun_  together!”

He snorted at the suggestiveness in Kokichi’s tone despite himself. “Kokichi…”

Normally he’d refuse. It just seemed so… silly to start playing along in a stream. But looking at Kokichi and at the water as it flowed past his pale ankles, with the heat still bearing down on them, Shuichi found that he couldn’t resist. A smile tugged at his lips and he leaned over, kicking off his shoes and peeling off his socks as he balanced on each foot.

Sure, why the hell not? He was in the mood to mess around in the water with the time it took getting in there to begin with. And the way Kokichi’s eyes shone at his implicit ascent made him anticipate it all the more.

As Shuichi stepped into the water, Kokichi danced back away from him, water sloshing around his feet as he moved over the rocky stream-bed with graceful movement. He kicked, splashing water over Shuichi’s knees and getting the end of his shorts wet. Shuichi sputtered, surprised at how cool the water was, even warmed by the sun.

“Sorry, Shuichi, you can’t let your guard down in front of an evil leader like me!” Kokichi laughed, and his voice was as light as the sun itself.

Shuichi gave a wry grin, something about that comment sparking a competitive edge in his chest.

“I’m going to make you regret that, Kokichi,” he warned.

Kokichi only giggled in response, and kicked another small splash of water at him.


	29. Saimota - Doing something sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {A little short, a little sweet}**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to post these last two chapters from my tumblr, oops

Shuichi’s cheeks warmed when Kaito brought his hand up to his mouth, brushing his lips against the back of his knuckles. Then Kaito met his watching gaze with an intent look in his eyes and the warmth broke out into a full on fire across his face. With a firm grip on his hand, Kaito turned it over to kiss the underside of his wrist, keeping his eyes on Shuichi’s.

“I–. Ah…”

For a few moments, Shuichi struggled to say something, anything more eloquent than the incoherent noises that slipped out of his mouth, but as Kaito continued to kiss a path up his arm the words died in his throat. He fell quiet then, his breath quickened and his heart speeding at the tender press of Kaito’s lips to his skin. Up his forearm, to the inside of his elbow, against his bare shoulder…

Kaito stopped just shy of his neck. A whine nearly escaped him, Shuichi’s head tilted in silent encouragement. He could feel Kaito’s eyes still on him, but his own lids had fallen closed. “You’re so goddamn beautiful, Shuichi.”

He shuddered at the hot breath ghosting over his neck. Mouth pressed closed, he opened it to make a response. It came out as an exhale threaded with a needy whine instead of words. Smooth. He didn’t know how to respond to that. Part of him wanted to deny it, say that he didn’t look that good, that he hated the body he normally felt so trapped in.

But how could he not believe Kaito when he spoke with such fervent love filling his voice? Its intensity washed over him, poured into Shuichi’s own chest with each breath.  _Kaito_  thought he was beautiful,  _Kaito_  loved how he looked, and it made Shuichi feel like he almost could too.

A hand on the side of his face, calloused but so gentle, pulled Shuichi back into the moment. His eyes fluttered open, just in time for Kaito to draw him into a kiss. Shuichi sighed into it, wrapping his arms around Kaito’s shoulders to pull him in even closer. When Kaito pulled away again, Shuichi leaned forward to chase after his lips.

He finally found his words, “I love you.”

Kaito smiled, and murmured out an “I love you, too” before their mouths met again.


	30. Oumota - Doing something hot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Titled: {It goes from hot to hotter and there’s not a bit of sexiness in this sweat}**

The air conditioning was most definitely not working, Kaito decided as he lay on his stomach with the cheap carpet scratching his abdomen. Last night he’d had trouble deciding if that was so. It was dark and cooler and he didn’t know whether the running fans were ineffective or if the AC just hadn’t been set low enough. Regardless, he lived through a fan plugged in at his bedside, blowing warm air in his face and cooling the sweat from his skin.

Now, in the full heat of the day, Kaito realized that it wasn’t working at all. They’d have to get it fixed, and soon, or else they’d all die of heat stroke in their sleep or some shit like that. Not right that moment, though. The heat sapped away the strength in his limbs and left him exhausted, no matter how uncomfortable the floor felt. He couldn’t be bothered to move yet.

That, and he had Kokichi laying right on top of his back.

Kaito rocked to the side in a weak attempt to shake Kokichi off of him, though not enough to turn off his stomach. Too much effort right now. “Get off of me, it’s too hot,” he complained, glaring at the floor. If he had the neck flexibility for it, he’d turn his face to direct it right at Kokichi, but alas he was no owl. Or vampire. Or person with a freakishly flexible neck.

Somehow Kokichi managed to lean more heavily against him–did he have his feet kicked up in the air or something? The little shit.

“Hmmm, no. It’s too hot, I don’t wanna move.”

Kaito could understand that, if he wasn’t laying right on top of someone who in the winter months Kokichi called a ‘walking space heater’ (always adding that he had the brains of one as well, to a disgruntled Kaito). He pointed it out, saying, “It’d be less hot if you weren’t lying  _right on top of me_.”

“Aw, is it hot to have me on top of you? And here I thought you preferred topping,” Kokichi said, and he could hear the grin in his voice.

He rolled his eyes so hard that it hurt his head. “Shut up, that was weak and it’s too hot for this shit.”

“I’ll think about it if you buy me ice cream,” he returned, dropping his teasing. Kaito supposed the heat even drained Kokichi, probably, for him to let it go so quickly. “Buy me something sweet and cool to suck on, Kaito, pwetty pwease?”

Oh he cringed at that description, and the voice Kokichi used when he said it. That was torture in and of itself. “Fine, fine, whatever, just get off of me.”

Anything to make it end.

“Yay!” Yet Kokichi’s cheer was subdued, and in a flash he’d rolled right off of him, flopping down onto his back on the ground. Kaito took a few moments longer to react, the relief of air hitting his back too great not to relish for a minute.

After that minute passed, he forced himself to move, pushing himself up to his knees. He glanced down at Kokichi, who hadn’t budged from where he’d landed, looking up at Kaito with an expectant grin. If he believed that Kaito was going to pick him up at all, he was going to punch him.

“I’m not gonna put on a shirt,” Kaito said. It was too hot. The world could just deal with his bare chest for a little while, and if the store didn’t like it then Kokichi could go buy his ice cream on his own.

Kokichi’s grin widened. “I didn’t know you were such an exhibitionist, Kaito.”

He actually did hit him then, ineffectually slapping at his shoulder as he rolled his eyes again, though this time he did it with less vigor.

“If you don’t shut up, you’re not getting any ice cream,” he warned.

“My lips are sealed! No more will I say another word, not about anything! Not even about how Kaito wants everyone to look at his big biceps or toned abs, or that he’d compensating for a small dick. Nope! Not nothing from me!” Kokichi looked as if he was having the time of his life, and Kaito didn’t know what else he couldn’t expected.

That didn’t mean that he had to like it. He frowned, grumbling and part of him wishing that he’d hit Kokichi just a little harder than he did. He was getting too soft on him; the heat really was getting to him.

“I’m going to punch you.”

Kokichi only laughed at his threat, knowing full well that Kaito would not.

“Oooh. Kinky.”


End file.
